Cyclone SB Gets 1st Win of Season Over Denison-Schleswig, 9-4

Harlan Community's Suzy Kenkel (5-29-25)

Cyclone SB Gets 1st Win of Season Over Denison-Schleswig, 9-4 -

(5-29-25) - The Highway 59 rivalry took place with Harlan Community and Denison-Schleswig each looking for their first win of the season and Cyclones got big plays from the little backstop.

Suzy Kenkel’s RBI double sparked a 4-run 7th to extend Harlan Community’s lead as they rolled to a 9-4 victory to break a 9-game losing streak dating back to last season.

Kenkel, who was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI, talked about her team’s approach at the plate.

“Our coaches tell us pick good pitches. We really tried to stay on strikes and not balls towards the end there. (Teammate) Aubree Arkfeld, she had a very good at bat, fouling a ton off and then gotta walk right at the end. I think our biggest approach was just like building off of each other and knowing that we could do.”

Taylor Heese got the scoring going in the 1st with an RBI single to drive in Avery Manz. Kenkel followed with a 2-out double to drive in Heese and Camryn Goshorn to give Harlan Community a 3-0 lead.

Kenkel also made several solid defensive plays, including a diving catch on a popped-up bunt in the 1st.

It was the first win in the coaching careers of Cyclone Co-Coaches Nolan Heese and Brett Croghan, who likes how his team is building confidence with each inning won.

“It's infectious and they've kind of bought into that. When one person starts it off, they can kind of get that feeling and get going and that's where we want to piggyback off of is to ride that high as long as we can. So they did a really good job of piling hits on top of each other, caused a little havoc on the base paths and it worked out in our favor.”

Camryn Goshorn struck out 7 over 7 innings to get the win. Croghan has worked with Goshorn and his whole team about dealing with setbacks.

“We've been talking to her and all the girls a lot about response. How do you respond to adversity? And she has done a really, really good job of shaking off bad pitches, tough plays, tough innings and responding in a really, really good way.”

Taylor Heese was also 3 for 4 with an RBI and Lauryn Schmitz drove in 2 runs as Harlan Community pounded out 14 hits.

Croghan believes his Cyclones are finally showing what they’re capable of doing on the diamond.

“They're resilient, they're resilient. We went through some bumps early on in the first three games and we just stepped up and it was just a good feeling. All credit to the girls. They've been working really hard and it's just a really, really good feeling.”

Harlan Community will host Atlantic for a doubleheader on Monday.

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or Iowa Quik Stats