Sports

PETERSON — Sioux Central will be playing in the district final for a second straight season Saturday night after shutting out Fort Dodge St. Edmond 7-0 Tuesday in the semifinals. Saturday’s final will pit the Rebels against Newell-Fonda for the second time this season. Sioux Central took the first encounter 11-9 on June 20...

While it wasn’t quite as commanding as Spencer’s first 16-1 win over Algona this season, the Tigers finished out the regular season at Andy McGaffin Field Tuesday with a 6-1 victory over the Bulldogs. Spencer won the battle in the hit column just 5-4, but Algona committed five errors to the Tigers’ one, accounting for half of Spencer’s runs...

SERGEANT BLUFF — When 3A district play begins this Friday night for the Spencer Tigers, bracket top seed Sergeant Bluff-Luton will be hosting the action, making the Warriors the favorite to be awaiting the winner of Spencer’s first round matchup with MOC-Floyd Valley in the district final. If the Tigers face SB-L in the postseason, they’ll need to improve from their performance against the Warriors Monday night which ended in a 9-1 Spencer defeat...

PETERSON — One year after reaching the 1A substate final, Sioux Central’s baseball postseason began in strong fashion Saturday night with the Rebels thumping Storm Lake St. Mary’s 10-1. The victory advances Sioux Central to Tuesday’s 1A district semifinals in Peterson against Fort Dodge St. Edmond. The Gaels knocked off Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire 5-3 Saturday...

Humboldt racked up seven more hits than the Tigers and held a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh Friday night, but Spencer managed to extend the game by a frame with four runs in the seventh before getting the walk-off run on a wild pitch in the eighth to win 7-6...

DENISON — Spencer and Denison-Schleswig first squared off on the softball diamond during the opener of the Spencer Invitational this summer. That encounter saw the Tigers grind out a 2-0 win in a game with just six total hits. The purple and gold offense stayed similarly quiet Thursday night in the first round of regional play, but the Monarchs hit safely 13 times and drew six walks to eliminate Spencer 10-0 in six innings...

ALTA — Alta-Aurelia sent four pitchers to the mound Thursday against the Spencer Tigers with all but one giving up at least one run during a 9-4 nonconference, road victory for the purple and gold. Spencer had it working early with Marcus Klemme doubling in Gage Garnatz for a 1-0 lead. ...

WASHINGTON — USDA’s Farm Service Agency is accepting applications for certain practices under the continuous Conservation Reserve Program signup and will offer extensions for expiring CRP contracts. The 2018 Farm Bill reauthorized CRP, one of the country’s largest conservation programs...

DES MOINES — As of July 1, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is now a part of the growing number of states natural resource agencies that is selling the Federal Electronic Duck Stamp, also known as the “e-stamp.” Waterfowl hunters are able to purchase the e-stamp for $28.50 at any of the statewide vendors that sell hunting and fishing licenses, as well as through the DNR’s new GoOutdoorsIowa app...

DES MOINES — One of the most recognized pollinators, monarchs travel more than 3,000 miles each year to come visit Iowa for the summer. With declining numbers over the last decade, here are some ways you can help these beautiful orange and black butterflies...

DES MOINES — Gage O’Connor from the Ankeny Hawks Shooting Sports Team hit 200 straight clay targets at the State Trap Shoot the first week of June, besting all other shooters. But in the end his effort was not enough to hold off the varsity squad from North Scott who had the high squad score, hitting 985 out of 1,000 targets by their five-person team...

In the summer months, fish are eating aggressively. But every now and then, something happens that makes them a little more selective about what they eat. When that happens, and it’s usually weather related, a plain jig tipped with a piece of plastic can put fish in the boat better than almost anything. Here are some ideas about how you can use jigworms to catch fish when others can’t...

A special dedication took place at Little Swan Lake north of Superior on June 29 as leaders of the Ducks Unlimited and donors of the Living Lake Initiative, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Lake Restoration program met that afternoon to celebrate the infrastructure now in place to complete the planned renovation and transformation of Little Swan Lake...

On Wednesday, June 26, Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed Kayla Lyon as the first female director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Lyon will take over as the eighth director of the agency on July 8 and replace Bruce Trautman who has served as acting director since May 2018...

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is closely monitoring Crystal Lake for zebra mussels after recent discoveries of juveniles in a water sample and two individuals on a sampling plate used to monitor for zebra mussels. No adult zebra mussels were found during a follow-up survey...