Bulldogs soon travel to face Cadets in Battle for Bradford rivalry
The Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldogs and the Iowa Falls-Alden Cadets are set to square off Monday on the Softball field.
H-D-CAL finds themselves 1-6 on a five game skid to start the year with their one win against Nashua-Plainfield in game two of the season. The Bulldogs most recently battled with Algona in a 14-0 loss Friday, and will try to turn things around for the first Battle for Bradford rivalry game on the schedule. Hampton-Dumont-CAL Softball Head Coach Kelsey Enslin says that the bar is still set high despite a slow start.
“One of our goals is just to be competitive in every game, but also you know you always look towards trying to win a conference title or getting as far as you can in the postseason. I would say the majority of our girls are still new or in new spots. So we set our goals high and we’ll see what we can achieve.”
Coach Enslin says that junior Teaghan Bird has been one of the many Bulldogs who has caught her eye to start the year.
“As a whole, we have a lot of kids that have been around the program that finally are getting a chance to step up into positions. Teaghan Bird is our centerfielder and she’s been pretty outstanding for us. She can run down pretty much any ball. She had a huge catch against North Butler. She’s super quick, so having her at the plate and getting on base, she just kind of understands and is very aggressive and wants to get to the next base. So I’m really excited about having her speed.”
Iowa Falls-Alden is 1-4 heading into this matchup. Since their victory against Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, the Cadets are searching for another North Central Conference win. Sophomore Erica Baker has come on strong for IFA, totaling five hits on the year, with three runs and two RBI’s. With the Cadets registering just two hits against St. Edmond Friday, Iowa Falls-Alden Head Coach Emily Banken says batting is where her team needs to improve.
“We’ve kinda struggled to put the bat on the ball sometimes or even just you know finding the gap and getting on base, and so we’re just going to keep working at that. [We’re] trying to clean up some of the swings and change the approach that they take when they’re going up to bat.”
Monday’s game will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Iowa Falls, pregame coverage starts at 7:20 p.m. as 104.9 KLMJ will broadcast the event.
