Following an off day on Thursday, the Norwalk baseball and softball teams return to the diamond tonight and begin the second half of the Little Hawkeye Conference schedule at home vs. Oskaloosa. The varsity softball game is slated to start at 7:15 p.m. and varsity baseball gets underway at 7:30.

The Warrior softball squad, which dropped to seventh in the latest Class 4A state rankings, stands 16-4 overall and 9-2 in the Little Hawkeye. They trail Indianola by one game in the standings, tied with Dallas Center-Grimes for second place.

Norwalk defeated Osky by scores of 12-2 and 12-1 in a May 31 doubleheader, but Coach Beau Livingston tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that no win is guaranteed in the Little Hawkeye. The Warriors found that out on Wednesday when they needed a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh to complete a doubleheader sweep of Pella. They won both games by just one run. Livingston says that his team must keep improving and not overlook any opponent if they are going to stay in the hunt for the program’s first conference title since 2011.

“We make no bones about it. We want to go win the Little Hawkeye,” he said. “It’s important to us, it’s important to our girls and it’s important to our program. We’re going to continue to put a lot of emphasis on it.”

The Norwalk baseball team will try to turn things around in the second half of league play. They have lost several close games in starting 5-15 overall and 3-8 in the LHC. Tonight’s Osky game is a rubber match as the two squads split a doubleheader on May 31. The Warriors won the first game 7-2 before losing the night cap 6-5 in eight innings.