Hawks softball wins six straight, baseball surges with Worley

There was nothing in the way of the Hawks the final week of the regular season. (Note: Games covered June 25-30)

Baseball (10-14)

With the only thing left on the schedule being the start of regional action on Saturday, Woodward-Granger picked up two more wins to build some momentum.

Dating back to June 17, the Hawks went 5-1 for their best stretch of the season after picking up wins against Madrid (11-14) and ACGC (1-20) on June 25 and 26. That stretch was ended with an untimely meeting with juggernaut Des Moines Christian (ranked No. 2 in the class and riding a 19-game win streak) on June 27.

Looking for their fifth win in a row over Madrid, the Hawks left the Tigers’ field with a 9-8 win in tow, narrowly escaping six unanswered runs in the back half of the game. But some early heroics from Brody Worley kept the game far enough out of reach.

While Worley had mostly made his impact on the mound this season, he made his mark at the plate against Madrid, driving in three runs on a two-hit performance as the designated hitter. His efficiency at the plate continued the next game in a 5-0 victory over ACGC, creating three total runs with one run and two RBIs. He had seven RBIs leading up to this week.

Bryan Jesse was on the bump for six innings against the Chargers, sending eight out on strikes for his high mark of the season.

Softball (9-11)

Riding a wave, the Hawks added two more wins to their bag, now standing at six wins in a row — the program’s longest streak in a decade. That officially brings the team to its highest win total since 2017.

While allowing the first runs of a game have not yielded many wins, the June 24 matchup with Ogden (11-15) proved to be an exception as W-G surged to an 11-4 win despite falling behind 2-0. Jaidyn Achenbach, Maddie Rodgers and Andrea Nardini each posted two runs, with Nardini grabbing three hits as well.

Momentum was on Woodward’s side the following night in Madrid (9-21) where the team immediately scored nine runs in the first inning en route to an 11-0 win. Quickly wrapping around the order, Achenbach scored three times out of the leadoff spot, aided by Rodgers hitting her first home run of the year.

W-G looks to take this momentum in to the first round of regional action on Monday, opening up the postseason with Colfax-Mingo (2-17) at the Phil Creese Complex.