Newspapers across the country have been forced to downsize staffs and find new avenues of relevance in order to remain afloat financially. Unfortunately, staff downsizing has led to the dismissal of one of the state’s top wrestling writers, Dan McCool, who was one of 36 employees laid off in the latest round of cuts by Gannett Co. at the Des Moines Register.
McCool was the cornerstone of wrestling coverage for probably about three decades. Every coach, wrestler, manager, parent or sibling associated with the sport knew McCool. He captured the respect of those in …

Clear Creek Amana’s ordinary is everybody else’s excellent.
CCA’s excellent … now, that’s extraordinary.
The Clippers’ march toward history continues tonight when they host Benton Community in a Class 3A regional quarterfinal softball game. First pitch is 7 at McAreavy Field in Oxford.
Thirty-two years have passed since an Iowa high school softball team went undefeated (Urbandale was 44-0 in 1977). The top-ranked Clippers (39-0) are six steps away.
** For more, read Saturday’s Gazette**

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Typically the wind blowing into Sportsmen’s Park’s Lou Koenigsfeld baseball field from left field hurts a pitcher trying to throw a curveball.
The affect, though, was the exact opposite Thursday for Charles City’s Justin DeBower.
DeBower located his curveball with precision, then mixed in an extremely effective fastball to slow down the Nashua-Plainfield offense in Charles City’s 6-1 win in non-conference baseball action.
"Normally when you have a wind like that, it hurts your curveball," said Charles City coach Rick Gabel. "He pitched a great ball game. He had his curveball …

North Polk senior Sammy Snygg struck out 12 batters last night in a 9-0 win against Panorama to become Iowa’s career softball strikeout leader with 2,178.
She eclipsed the mark of 2,175 set by Jen Bice of Woodward-Granger (1995-1999).
Snygg became Iowa’s career leader in home runs June 29 with her 48th, passing Fort Madison’s Erica Martinez.

Six base runners were stranded in the first three innings. Glass half-empty.
On the other hand, they were getting runners aboard. Glass half-full.
“Honestly, I wasn’t that worried,” said Alburnett’s Allyssa Neighbor. “We usually end up scoring at the end of games. I had complete confidence. We’d done it before.”
Lo and behold, when crunch time arrived, Alburnett’s cup runneth over.
The 14th-ranked Pirates struck for five late runs and sidelined Maquoketa Valley, 5-1, in a Class 2A first-round regional softball game last night at Alburnett High School.
“We figured if it was close at …

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DES MOINES, Iowa – Listed below is the schedule for the quarterfinal round of the Class 1A and Class 2A Regional Softball Tournament scheduled for Friday, July 10th.  The rankings used are those of the Iowa Sports…
Source: Iowa Sports Connection

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Source: Iowa Sports Connection