Hawks stumble to Solon

After a strong start, the Mid-Prairie softball team couldn?t keep up with Solon on Friday night.

The Hawks opened the scoring with a pair of homeruns, but that?s all they could muster, as the Spartans defeated Mid-Prairie 12-2, ending the Hawks? streak of state tournament berths at five.

The loss moves Mid-Prairie to a final record of 22-14 for a season that saw them ranked throughout.

The Hawks started off fast in the game. After being struck out in the bottom of the first, they came back with back-to-back homeruns from Ali Naylor and Emma Troyer to make it 2-0 after two innings.

Solon didn?t wait long to tie things up, nabbing a pair of runs in the top of the third.

A no-out bases-loaded double by Solon in the fourth gave the Spartans the lead, and a two-run homerun capped off a six-run inning for Solon, giving them an 8-2 lead after four.

A run in the sixth made it 9-2, before Solon tacked on three more in the seventh to make it a 10-run game.

The Hawks graduate four seniors (Lexi Duwa, Ashley Sojka, Taylor Kurtz and Chelsea Kral) this season, a group that accounted for 126 combined starts in 36 games.

Among the top returners for the Hawks, Alex Rath batted .545 with an on-base percentage of .624, while Amber Kral finished her season among the state leaders with 71 RBIs and 12 homeruns, also batting .472 and having an on-base percentage of .545.

Mid-Prairie figures to return four starters who put up at least 20 RBIs, and four girls who batted over .341 next season.