Friday June 7th Local Sports

CLEVELAND (AP) — Max Kepler homered three times and José Berríos locked up Cleveland’s lineup into the seventh inning as the Minnesota Twins avoided a sweep –and their first three-game losing streak — by beating the Indians 5-4. Kepler, who entered hitless in his previous 21 at-bats, connected in the first, third and seventh innings off Indians starter Trevor Bauer. Roberto Pérez homered for Cleveland.

== The Twins head to Detroit for a three-game series to wrap up their road trip. First pitch tonight is at 6:10 with a 5:30 pre-game show on KGLO. Saturday it’s a 2:30 pre-game and 3:10 first pitch. Sunday it’s “Inside Twins” at 11:00 AM, the pre-game at 11:30, with first pitch at 12:10.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins are making changes at Target Field aimed at making it easier for fans to enter while still maintaining security. Starting with the Twins’ next homestand Tuesday, fans will be able to keep their cellphones, keys and wallets in their pockets while going through security at all of the ballpark’s gates. The Twins also are implementing a new bag policy starting July 5. Only tote bags, purses, clutch purses, clear bags, drawstring bags and medically necessary items will be allowed.

CLEAR LAKE — The Clear Lake baseball team held off Garner-Hayfield-Ventura 8-7 in non-conference baseball at Lions Field last night. Both teams scored four times in the first, with Clear Lake scoring a run in the third and took an 8-4 lead after Chase Stuver’s three-run homer in the fourth. The Cardinals got three runs back in the fifth but were not able to score any more. Eric Ritter picked up the win for Clear Lake, going four-and-two-thirds innings, striking out eight. Clear Lake is 4-5 on the season and will host Clarion-Goldfield-Dows on Monday in a game you’ll hear on KRIB starting at about 7:30.

— other baseball from last night
Forest City 10, Bishop Garrigan 5
Hampton-Dumont 4, Aplington-Parkersburg 1
West Fork 10, Clarksville 0 (Game 1 — 6 innings )
West Fork 11, Clarksville 3 (Game 2)

CLEAR LAKE — The Clear Lake softball team came from behind to beat Garner-Hayfield-Ventura 10-9 in eight innings last night at Lions Field. Clear Lake is 3-3 on the season and will host Clarion-Goldfield-Dows on Monday.

— other softball from last night
Algona 7, Forest City 1
Central Springs 13, Northwood-Kensett 1
Humboldt 11, Belmond-Klemme 1

MASON CITY – NIACC sophomore Kaci Sherwood was selected as a National Fastpitch Coaches Association National Junior College Athletic Association Division II second-team all-American as an infielder.

Sherwood was also a first-team all-Region XI selection and a first-team all-Midwest Region selection.

Sherwood, who hit .453 with 15 home runs and 50 RBIs, was selected as the ICCAC player of the week twice during the 2019 season.

It is the second straight season that a NIACC softball player has earned NFCA all-American honors. Morgan Thesing-Ritter was a second-team selection in 2018 as an outfielder.

Sherwood is NIACC’s career home run leader with 24 and is tied for first on the career RBI list with 97. She also ranks second on the school’s career hits list (123), third on the career doubles list (25) and seventh on the career batting average list (.401).

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa men’s basketball team will challenge Syracuse on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York, as part of the 2019 Big Ten/ACC Challenge. It will mark Iowa’s first-ever visit to the Carrier Dome.

Iowa has won four of its last six Challenge games by five points or less. Iowa topped Notre Dame (98-93) in Iowa City in 2013; won at No. 12 North Carolina (60-55) in 2014; outlasted Florida State (78-75) in overtime in Iowa City in 2015; and edged Pitt a year ago in Iowa City (69-68). The Hawkeyes lost at Notre Dame (92-78) in 2017 and fell at Virginia Tech (79-55) in 2018.

This will be Iowa’s fourth all-time meeting against Syracuse and the first as part of the Challenge. The Hawkeyes are 2-1 against the Orange, with all three previous games contested on neutral courts. Iowa won in Buffalo in 1957 (58-52) and Philadelphia (88-77) in 1980 in the Elite Eight. Syracuse was victorious in the last meeting in New York City in 2014 (66-63).

This will mark Iowa’s 19th appearance in the 21-year history of the Challenge.

Both Iowa and Syracuse finished in sixth place in their respective conference standings a year ago. The Hawkeyes finished the 2018-19 season with a 23-12 overall record and advanced to the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. The Orange posted a 20-14 overall record and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Last year’s Challenge resulted in a tie, with each conference winning seven games. In the 20 years of the event, 10 of the challenges have been decided by a single game. Since 2009, the Big Ten has won five challenges (2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015), the ACC has won two (2016, 2017), and there have been three ties (2012, 2013, 2018).

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Odyssey Sims scored 15 points and Lexie Brown added 12 to help the Minnesota Lynx hold off the Phoenix Mercury 58-56. Sylvia Fowles had 10 points and seven rebounds for Minnesota to move past Tina Thompson for fourth on the WNBA’s rebounding list.

QUAD CITIES — The PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic near the Quad Cities is trying a new marketing approach in hopes of raising even more money for local charities. The tournament is raffling off a VIP-style experience for the winner and a guest. Ashley Hansen is in charge of the initiative and says the aim is to stimulate donations to the Birdies for Charity Bonus Fund.

Hansen says the odds of winning improve with the size of the donation.

The winner receives round-trip airfare and three nights lodging for themselves and a guest as well as a chance to play in a Wednesday pro-am the day before the tournament begins.