Eagle injured in loss

KEOTA - It's never a good thing when a team loses its catcher due to injury. Its even worse when she gets taken to the hospital.

That happened to Keota's Callie McNurlen Monday in a South Iowa Cedar League softball game against Montezuma (2-6), which the Braves won 11-2.

'Callie got hurt when she was just trying to make a play,” said Keota coach Dewey Purkeypile, who is in his first season at the helm of the Eagles. 'She is a committed girl. She's very determined. She just did the wrong thing at the wrong time and the cleat got her. She went to reach to make the out and the girl slid right into her right arm. It was a slice. I don't think it was to the bone or anything, but it might be in the muscle.”

Despite watching their teammate bleed, the Eagles played their best game of the year in the loss. It was the first game that wasn't ended by the mercy rule this season. When the fifth inning ended, some Eagles assumed the game was over.

'That even confused me for a second,” Purkeypile said. 'We have a young team and that's the first game that we went to seven innings. Defensively, we kind of struggled a little bit because we have had better defensive games. We were shaky in our defense, but our pitching was spot on.”

Alexia Purkeypile threw seven strikeouts and three walks in the loss.

The Eagles gave up five runs in the first inning, but played better after that.

'We just did not quite get the bats going,” the coach said.

Sky Weber had a single that scored Jill Schulte and Purkeypile in the fourth inning. Each had singled to get on base.

'We have a really good group of girls,” Coach Purkeypile said. 'I can't say enough about them. They work hard and they're having fun.”

The Eagles (0-5) play at Class 1A's eighth-ranked Sigourney today.

Schulte is the Eagles only senior. The rest are sophomores or younger.

'For my first year coaching, everyone has been great helping me out,” Coach Purkeypile said. 'We are going to get better. It's a fun group that likes to work hard.”