The Area Game of the Week makes its return to Schafer Field in Sigourney tonight when the home Savages square off with conference opponent North Mahaska on KCII.

Sigourney will take to the home diamond 0-3 overall, 0-3 in the South Iowa Cedar League after dropping a 9-8 contest to Belle Plaine at home Friday. Kiley Cavin led with two singles in five at-bats, with Nevaeh Beinhart bringing in three runs. Emerie McCulley was hit with the loss, hurling five-and-two-thirds, and allowed eight runs on nine hits, five earned, with one walk to three strikeouts. This season, Sigourney has scored 11 runs on 17 hits with nine RBI on a .233 average, .321 OBP and .260 slug. The Savage staff has gone 17-and-a-third in the circle, and have allowed 22 runs on 24 hits, 17 earned, with 11 walks to 14 punchouts, an opponent average of .255, ERA of 6.87 and WHIP of 2.02. Kia Montgomery leads with the bat individually, with four hits on a .400 average, .455 OBP and .855 slug. McCulley has gone 15-and-a-third in the circle, and has allowed 21 runs on 22 hits, 16 earned, with 11 walks to 13 Ks. This week, Sigourney head coach Shelly Streigle spoke with KCII Sports about the progress of her young pitching staff, “I think Addalee [Chittick] has been put in some really rough situations. But I also have a third pitcher I haven’t used yet, Nevaeh Beinhart. Just the situation hasn’t been totally right yet for that. Emerie [McCulley] has come through. She shows a lot of spunk and stays on her game pretty well. We just need to avoid that big inning and kind of get to the finish point.”

North Mahaska opened the week with a 9-8 win Monday at Montezuma. Madeline Doonan doubled and brought in a run, while Jolan Fogle went five frames en route to the win in the circle, allowing five runs on nine hits, four earned, with no walks to five strikeouts. This year, the Warhawks have 70 runs on 66 hits with 43 RBI on a .330 team average, .409 OBP and .470 slug. As a staff, they’ve allowed 36 runs on 54 hits, 23 earned, 15 walks to 29 punchouts, an opponent average of .243, ERA of 3.50 and WHIP of 1.50. Individually, Olivia Ridgeway is the hits leader with 14, fifth in Class 1A, including four triples, tied for the state lead. Fogle has gone over 37 frames in the circle, allowing 29 runs on 42 hits, 17 earned, with 11 walks to 26 Ks. The Warhawks lead the all-time series with the Savages 14-12 dating back to 2009 in the Varsity Bound era, and will attempt to break a six-game winless streak in the series tonight.

You can hear all of the action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5, FM 106.1, the KCII Apps and KCIIRadio.com, beginning with the Area Game of the Week softball pregame show at 5 p.m. and first pitch between the Savages and Warhawks at 5:30 from Schafer Field in Sigourney.