The Pella Christian summer sports squads began the second round of the Little Hawkeye Conference schedule Friday, but both teams suffered losses to Dallas Center-Grimes. The Class 4A #5 Mustangs won the softball game 8-0 in six innings, and DCG also won the baseball game 11-3.

On the softball diamond, the Eagles hung tough with the ranked Mustangs squad throughout the night, but it wasn’t enough to pull off the upset. After two scoreless innings, DCG broke through in the top of the third inning to plate four runs, before adding another in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead. The Mustangs finished the scoring in the sixth inning, tacking on another three runs to drop Pella Christian to 3-11 overall and 1-10 in the conference. Chloe Snyder and Addie Van Arendonk recorded the two base hits on the night for the Eagles, with Snyder posting a double.

The Pella Christian baseball team out hit DCG 9-4 on the night, but it wasn’t enough to avoid falling to 4-14 overall and 0-11 in conference play. The Eagles grabbed the early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first inning, but the Mustangs responded with five runs in the second to take control of the game. Pella Christian added their final run in the bottom of second, but DCG tacked on two runs apiece in each of the third, fourth, and sixth innings to pull away for the win. Grant Kelderman went 3-4 at the plate to lead the Eagles offense, while Conor Van Zee and Ben Van Wyngarden each had two hits on the night. Van Zee added an RBI with a double, while Josiah Vink produced the other run batted in.

The Pella Christian summer sports teams now have the weekend off, before hosting Newton in conference doubleheaders on Monday.