With just one week left in the regular season, the Keota Eagles (8-6, 7-6) will look to cool down the red-hot BGM Bears (15-4, 11-3) in a Friday-night edition of the KCII Area Game of the Week.
The Bears are currently enjoying a four-game win streak in which they handed defending state champion Sigourney its only loss in South Iowa Cedar League play this year. Keota has won three of its last five, including an Area Game of the Week victory over HLV-TC last Thursday, but dropped its most recent game to Lynnville-Sully 12-4.
The two faced off earlier this year on June 15, when the Bears broke the hearts of the Eagles, winning a 4-5 game in walk-off fashion.
Young star Jessalyn Aller, despite being just an eighth grader, has emerged as Keota’s leader on both sides of the ball this season. Throwing 79 of the Eagles’ 80 defensive innings this season, she’s allowed a .202 batting average, a 2.84 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. She’s surrendered just 13 walks on the year. Offensively, she leads Keota in RBIs, OBP, SLG, total bases, walks, triples and home runs.
As a team, Keota’s offense has emerged in recent weeks, most recently shown as they plated ten runs in a win over Montezuma last Friday. Keota head coach Shawn Haifley said that strikeout prevention has been a key factor in the team’s improvement, “One thing we’ve really emphasized is that we were striking out too much early in the year. If you don’t put the ball in play you don’t give yourself a chance. We’ve cut back on the strikeouts by three to four strikeouts per game, which has really helped us.”.
Freshman Cara Arment leads the way for BGM in the circle, starting 16 of their 19 games while posting a .203 batting average against, 2.64 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. At the plate, Arment is joined by fellow freshman Mya Beck as the engine of the Bears’ lineup. Arment provides the power, with a team-high two home runs and a 0.543 SLG, while Beck gives the BGM offense consistent baserunners with a team-high .410 AVG and .478 OBP.
BGM leads the series over Keota 22-1 since 2009, with the lone Eagle victory coming in 2013. June 15’s thriller was the closest that Keota has come since that 17-14 victory over a decade ago.
You can catch this edition of the KCII Area Game of the Week on the KCII3 app and the KCII3 stream on KCIIradio.com. Coverage will begin at 5 p.m. with the Area Game of the Week Pregame show. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 live from Keota.