Meet the nominees for the Press-Citizen's Athlete of the Week, July 15-21

Last week saw Iowa City High baseball and Solon softball clinch their respective tickets to state tournament play.

City High baseball defeated Iowa City West, 3-1, to advance to the Class 4A state tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons. Solon softball earned a 4-3 walkoff win over Center Point-Urbana to clinch a state appearance for the first time since 2016.

Clear Creek Amana (23-16), Solon (28-12) and Iowa City Liberty (25-14), and Iowa City West baseball (20-22-1) saw their seasons end in substate play, while Clear Creek Amana (25-13) and Iowa City Liberty softball (23-12) also fell short in regional competition.

Here are the nominees for the Iowa City Press-Citizen’s high school Athlete of the Week for July 15-21. Press-Citizen.com readers vote to decide this week’s winner. Voting closes at 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Players are listed in alphabetical order by last name :

Reece Cochran, Jr., Clear Creek Amana

Reece Cochran controlled the mound during CCA’s 6-2 win over Solon in the Class 3A substate semifinals on July 16.

Cochran pitched five innings and tallied seven strikeouts while limiting the Spartans to two runs and a hit.

Ty Fuller, Jr., Clear Creek Amana

Ty Fuller was a playmaker during CCA’s 6-2 win over Solon in the substate semifinals.

The CCA shortstop went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run.

Laeni Hinkle, Fresh., Solon

Laeni Hinkle helped Solon softball punch its ticket to the Class 3A state tournament with a 4-3 walkoff win over Center Point-Urbana on July 16.

Hinkle went 2-for-4 with a run and a walkoff RBI to beat the Stormin Pointers in the regional finals.

Jackson Khamphilanouvong, Sr., Iowa City Liberty

Despite a 4-3 loss to Pleasant Valley in the Class 4A substate finals, Jackson Khamphilanouvong was a playmaker in Liberty’s season finale.

Khamphilanouvong went 2-for-3 with two singles, an RBI and a run.

Jake Mitchell, Sr., Iowa City High

Jake Mitchell was a key piece in City High’s 3-1 win over Iowa City West in the substate finals on July 17.

Mitchell went 1-for-2 with a two-RBI single to help the Little Hawks reach the Class 4A state tournament for the third-straight year.

Marc Ray is the high school sports reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. He can be reached at MARay@gannett.com , and on X, formerly Twitter, at @themarcszn .

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Meet the nominees for the Press-Citizen's Athlete of the Week, July 15-21