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Barnes and Banks Takes Features With Carter, VanDerWal and Griffiths Leading Points on Night #1

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One of the most exciting events at the Southern Iowa Speedway is the Budweiser Great American Stock Car Shootout and this year marks the 20th Anniversary of the event. 91 cars signed in for Night one of the Shootout featuring 35 IMCA Stock Cars, 20 IMCA Hobby Stocks and 17 IMCA Northern SportMods.

Josh Barnes (IMCA Sport Compacts) and Brandon Banks (IMCA Modifieds) took feature wins on Wednesday Night. Stock Cars, Hobby Stocks and Sport Mods ran two sets of heat races with points earned during those events.

Cayden Carter (IMCA Stock Cars), Curtis VanDerWal (IMCA Northern SportMods) and Dustin Griffiths (IMCA Hobby Stocks) was the top point getters as all three won both of their heat races.

Josh Barnes started outside row two of the 12 lap IMCA Sport Compacts feature but by the end of lap one, it was Barnes grabbing the lead in his 1st ever visit to the monster half mile. Barnes pulled away meanwhile Trent Orwig, John Whalen, John Girdley and Shane Evans battled for position until the only caution came out on lap five for fluid on the front-stretch that came from Orwig’s car. Barnes again pulled away and went on to take the win over Evans, John Whalen, Bill Whalen and Girdley.

Brandon Banks started right where he left off two weeks ago in the Musco Lighting IMCA Modifieds 16 lap feature. Banks led the entire distance to take the feature win meanwhile Cayden Carter worked his way too second but ran out of laps to chase down Banks. Andrew Schroeder was third, Tyler Groenendyk was fourth and Colt Mather was fifth.

In the Budweiser IMCA Stock Cars Round one heats went to Derrick Agee, Damon Murty and Cayden Carter. Round two heats saw Mike Hughes, Carter and Cody Agee victorious. Top eight in Points was Carter, Murty, Hughes, Daniel Hilsabeck, Cody Agee, Nathan Wood, Derrick Agee and Shane Paris.

Colton Livezey and Curtis VanDerWal won round one heats in the KBOE Radio IMCA Northern SportMods meanwhile Logan Anderson and VanDerWal won round two heats. VanDerWal led the points followed by Anderson, Jason McDaniel, Brett Lowry, Livezey, Kyle Hill, Cory Van Zante and Charlie Weber.

Pepsi Cola IMCA Hobby Stocks saw Nick Ulin and Dustin Griffiths won round one heats. Griffiths and Danny Thrasher took round two heats. With two wins it was Griffiths leading the way in points followed by Thrasher, Ulin, Craig Brown, Adam Bonnett, Dale Porter, Brandon Potts and Jamie Songer.

Back at it for night two on Thursday Night as there will be Last Chance Qualifiers for Stock Cars, SportMods and Hobby Stocks. Everybody will get two chances to make the features. Top eight from Points on Wednesday will race in a dash. Iowa Sportsman Series will also be racing. Hot Laps at 7pm and Racing at 7:30pm.

July 2nd: On This Day

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On this day in 1991, Trisha Yearwood released her self-titled debut album. The album would produce four top 10 singles, including Trisha’s debut number one smash hit “She’s In Love With The Boy.” The album itself reached the number 2 position on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and was certified Double Platinum for sales of two million copies.

Oskaloosa Softball Suffers Another Extra Inning Loss, Baseball Also Falls

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A wild night in Norwalk resulted in Oskaloosa falling in two very different games in summer sports last night.

On the Mahaska Zone Network, you heard yet another classic softball game between two of the state’s best in the second-ranked Oskaloosa Indians and the ninth-ranked Warriors of Norwalk. Norwalk came into the game needing a win to essentially clinch the Little Hawkeye Conference title. Oskaloosa needed a win to stay alive in the conference race.

Osky’s Alexis Groet and Norwalk’s Taylor Goode both worked through minimal jams in the first five innings to keep tossing up quick goose eggs defensively. In the 6th, however, Oskaloosa broke through. Anna Jones led off the inning with a lead-off bunt single. Bethany Rowley bunted her to second, and then Kylee Silliman and Aubrey Miller hit back-to-back doubles to score the first two runs of the game to take a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom half of the 6th, Norwalk answered very quickly, but received some help. Oskaloosa committed two errors in the inning sandwiched around a double and a hit-by-pitch. After a hard-hit groundball got through the Osky infield, two runs scored to tie the game, but the Indian defense pulled off two great plays to get out of the jam and keep the game tied. On back-to-back batters, Norwalk attempted to squeeze bunt the go-ahead run home.  On the first, Groet tossed to her catcher Alexis Westercamp to get the tag for the first out of the inning. The next batter laid a similar bunt down and Westercamp applied the tag for the second out. The batter attempted to run to second and Westercamp threw it to Kylee Silliman, who noticed that Norwalk sent another runner home after that throw was made. Silliman immediately threw it back home and Westercamp applied the tag for the miraculous double play to keep the game tied.

After that, both teams would again start trading zeroes on the scoreboard as the pitchers would settle back in. Oskaloosa would have a harder time getting that accomplished, as in the 8th, 9th, and 10th, Norwalk would have a runner in scoring position. No threat was tougher than the 10th, when Anna Jones threw out a runner at first with two outs on a ground ball to right field to thwart what would have been the game-winning run.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards for Oskaloosa, as in the 11th, Norwalk would get a walk and two singles to load the bases up for the heavy hitting freshman Alyx Witt. On a 0-2 pitch with two outs, Witt took a pitch the other way and crushed it over the right-center field wall for a walk-off grand slam to give Norwalk the win 6-2.

Oskaloosa has now lost four games this year, and three in the last week in very close games. If the Indians could work on one thing to fix that, it may be making more clutch plays. In each of those three losses, it was defensive plays that cost the Indians a couple of runs and they were unable to respond with the bats.

The Indians now will head to Iowa City for a very tough tournament against 5A schools to continue to tune up for regionals, which begins next weekend.

You can hear all about those regions on BracketMania: Softball Edition this Friday night at 6 PM on the Mahaska Zone Network, 99.5 FM and AM 740 KMZN and on kboeradio.com. Katelyn Buckalew and I will be joined by a few area coaches and preview several area regional brackets as next Monday officially begins the postseason in the area with Class 1A.

In baseball last night, the ninth-ranked Oskaloosa Indians fell behind quickly to Norwalk, and lost 11-5. Norwalk scored six runs in the first inning, and the Oskaloosa offense was able to only muster six total hits in the game. Colton Swanson struggled on the mound, surrendering 11 runs total, 8 of which were earned on nine hits. The Indians will have a few days off, as they are next in action this coming Monday at home against Pella in a conference doubleheader. Pella is ranked #1 in the state this week in Class 3A, and Oskaloosa knows that they are in the same substate group as the Little Dutch so it is imperative to play well to boost confidence before the postseason bracket begins in a couple of weeks.

Leighton Turns 150

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In 1853, a group of investors got together in Keokuk, Iowa.  Their mission:  to establish a railroad that headed northwest up to Ft. Dodge, Iowa, via the capital city of Des Moines.  Thus was born the Des Moines River Valley Railroad, and its Secretary and Treasurer was William Leighton.

These were the roots of the present town of Leighton, but it would be another 10-plus years before the town would be established.  As the railroad snaked its way up the Des Moines River Valley, speculators jumped in wherever they could, hoping to make a profit.  One of these speculators was a gentleman in Pella by the name of B. F. Roberts.  Sensing an opportunity, he bought 40 acres in Black Oak Township, Mahaska County, from Ann Fleck in 1864, hoping he would hit pay dirt.  And it turned out he guessed right—the railroad came up right along the southern border of these 40 acres.

On February 9, 1865, B. F. Roberts and his wife Marietta created a plat of a brand new town, and named it Leighton in honor of railroad official William Leighton.  They stayed with the railroad theme—two of the streets, Otley and Carss, were named after J.W. Otley and James Carss, both engineers of the railroad bed that was being built.  Perry and Reid Streets were named after C. H. Perry and Hugh T. Reid, Keokuk residents who had invested heavily in the railroad.  And Patch Street was named after Abraham Patch, a railroad conductor.  He would have the honor of being in charge of the first train—led by Engine No. 1, “The Keokuk”—to reach Des Moines in 1866. By the end of 1866 the Roberts had sold virtually all of the town lots to one person, James Carver, who happened to be the brother-in-law of William Leighton.  (So it appears that the old adage—it is not what you know but who know—was in effect back then as well!).

The railroad resulted in Leighton being the ideal shipping point between Pella and Oskaloosa, with much grain and livestock shipped out of the stockyards and grain elevators that were located on a large parcel of railroad land on the south side of town.  A depot was built, and businesses, a post office, homes, churches, and schools soon followed.  The creation of the new town of Leighton became the demise of the former town of Laredo, which was located on the highway between Oskaloosa and Pella in the vicinity of the old Half-Way Station.

Leighton grew slowly, and the corporate limits increased in 1875 when Joseph and Estella Jackson platted Jackson’s Addition on the north side of town, and in 1908 when Geert (Gerrit) and Sjoukje (Charlotte) platted Stouwie’s Addition in the northeast corner of town.  It would be nearly 100 years before the corporate limits of the town would grow again, but it was for a very good reason. In anticipation of the new sewer project coming into town, in 2003 the properties on the east side Carss Street were voluntarily annexed into the City Limits so that they would have access to the brand new sanitary sewer and lagoon system that was being built.

Even though the plat of Leighton was filed at the courthouse in 1865, Leighton was not officially incorporated into a city by the vote of the people until 1909.  The highest population since that time was following the “baby boom” years, with the 1960 census showing a population of 167.  This is quite a change from one of the earliest references to Leighton, an 1865 guide of Iowa called the Iowa State Gazetteer, which listed the population at a mere 12 souls.  The 2010 census reports Leighton at 162 residents, which is not far from the high.

Most towns have unique tidbits in their history, and Leighton is no exception—here are a few examples:

The very first individual to own the land on which Leighton rests was a fellow by the name of Pardon Smith, who purchased the land for $1.25 an acre in 1853.  While Leighton is now viewed as a very stable and perhaps sleepy little village, this cannot be said of the original landowner—during the course of his life, Pardon Smith lived in 5 different states and had 6 different wives!

William Leighton, the town’s namesake and a Scottish immigrant, was a man of great wealth—the 1870 census showed the value of his real estate to be $50,000 and the value of his personal property to be $100,000, which was a tremendous amount in those days.  However, when the railroad industry went bust, so did William, and he died a poor man.  But, his legacy lives on in Mahaska County in the town of Leighton and in Beacon’s Leighton Street.

In the 1870’s the Temperance Movement was in full swing, and Leighton’s saloon was a target, with its owner being hauled before the Grand Jury in Mahaska County for creating a nuisance.  But, it was not the court system, but the Muchakinock Creek, that solved the problem.  In 1881 the creek went on a rampage, and washed away the saloon along with a goodly portion of the railroad.  Whether you believed it was an act of God or an act of Nature probably depended if you were the local Baptist or the local saloonkeeper……

The “Bonnie and Clyde” era of the 1930’s did not leave Leighton untouched—in 1935 the Leighton Bank was robbed at gunpoint, with the Cashier Herman Vander Linden and Teller Carrie Groenendyk placed in the vault with the door slammed shut.  Fortunately, a screwdriver in the vault allowed the latch to be loosened so they could escape.  The two robbers, young men from respected Ottumwa families, were caught and were each given 20 years of hard labor in the State Penitentiary.

The above robbery had another twist in the courts—the Mahaska County Bankers Association refused to pay the offered reward to Rolla Carr, who claimed to have provided evidence that led to the arrest of the robbers.  This individual sued the Association and won, and the Taintor Savings Bank of New Sharon appealed the ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court.  This court also ruled in favor of the plaintiff, so the Bankers Association had to pay.

With the demise of the railroad, Leighton’s importance as a transportation and shipping center also disappeared.  However, by the time that happened, Leighton had established itself as a strong little community, taking advantage of the good work opportunities available in Osklaoosa and Pella.  It has bucked the trend of small-town Iowa by remaining viable with active businesses, desirable properties for homeowners, strong city finances, and recreational and volunteer opportunities.

Leighton Celebrates its 150th Anniversary and America’s Independence

The City of Leighton, well known for its small-town Fourth of July festivities, has a dual reason to celebrate this year due to the 150th anniversary of its founding.  The day for the event will be Friday, July 3, with the events as follows:

5:00-7:00—Supper served by the Leighton Lions at the Leighton Christian Reformed Church

7:30—Parade on Otley Street

6:00-9:30—Games and Activities for kids at the Ballpark

10:00—FIREWORKS!

 

Oskaloosa Softball Drops Heartbreaker In Extras, Baseball Team Holds Serve in Eddyville

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The Oskaloosa softball team, ranked #2 in Class 4A, came into Eddyville with a two game losing streak to the Rockets of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, and Head Coach Jay Harms wanted to change things up. He did so by deciding to pitch Kylee Silliman, who hasn’t faced EBF the last two years. Coach Harms liked that she threw curvy junk up to the plate, and thought it would be tougher for the #2 Rockets to handle. For six innings, he was right.

Silliman cruised through most of the game, allowing only two hits in the first six innings, and taking a 1-0 lead into the 7th after Oskaloosa scored on a bases-loaded hit by pitch taken by Josie Bunnell in the second inning. In the bottom of the 7th, Sadie Baugher used her outstanding speed to get on base with an infield single. Two batters later, McKinley Moore hit a bloop single that fell down the left field line. Oskaloosa made a mistake throwing the ball into the infield, allowing both runners to advance into scoring position with just one out. 8th grader Reina Taylor was up next for EBF, and with a 1-2 count, Taylor was the beneficiary of a couple of borderline calls. First, it appeared Taylor was unable to check her swing, but after an appeal, the base umpire ruled it was not a swing. On the 2-2 delivery, Silliman appeared to paint the outside corner, but the Osky contingent let out a groan as it was called ball three. The next pitch was pivotal, as the full count offering was well inside and squirted away from Osky catcher Alexis Vroegh, which allowed the tying run to score. Silliman did a great job to work out of the jam to force extras.

Oskaloosa went fairly quiet in their half of the 8th, but that wasn’t the case for the Rockets, who got a hard hit double to lead off the frame by Paige Shafer, and she would score two batters later on a wild pitch to end the game, 2-1.

Despite the loss, it was an outstanding outing in the circle from Kylee Silliman, who struck out ten and only allowed six hits and no RBIs. Freshman Randie Richmond got the win for the Rockets in the circle, settling down to only allow five hits in eight innings of work, striking out three.

Oskaloosa is now 22-3 on the year, and have lost to their rivals to the south for the last three seasons. EBF is now 28-5 on the season, and are wrapping up their regular season this week as they prepare for regional play, where they will be favored to make it back to the state tournament.

The Oskaloosa baseball team was also in action, and took care of business against Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont and got the win 11-3. Nate VanVeldhuizen and Peyton Crouse led the offense with three hits each. VanVeldhuizen also scored four runs in the game. Joe Sterner and Tucker Nunnikhoven combined on a three-hitter on the mound in the non-conference affair. The baseball team is in action against Norwalk on the road as well this evening. The first pitch of that single varsity game is at 7:30 PM.

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