Southeast Iowa- Out of the halftime break of this year’s KILJ’s Sports Year in Review sponsored by H&R Block, we get ready to load up the bus and travel to the other side of the state for postseason baseball, while also following it up with the fall sports season as teams look to leave their mark on their program’s legacy for Quarter #3.
The month of July started with the Mt. Pleasant softball team knocking off Burlington for the first time since 2019 as Chaley Cook spun a complete game, 4-0, shutout. Cook would hit her first career homerun in their first-round regional contest against Oskaloosa. Saige Burchett and Keagyn Coleman each tabbed two hits for an RBI.
On the baseball scene, #5 Mediapolis and Mt. Pleasant beat up Class 1A’s #2 Sigourney, as J.C. Sitar’s terrific season continued as he nabbed his 37th RBI of the season in the victory. In the clutch, Fairfield’s Cason Miller clobbered a two-run homer to defeat Burlington for their second consecutive Southeast Conference Title.
That last bit of action led us into postseason time and not even the most torrential of weather would stop the games from happening. A rainstorm in New London did not postpone the start of Substate Baseball as Burlington Notre Dame competed against Keota and New London hosted the night with a showdown against Wapello.
The Nikes, hoping to make it back to the dance for the first time since 2022, utilized top notch pitching and small ball to trounce the Eagles 11-1.
Wapello struck first in the nightcap and held a 1-0 lead for 3.5 innings. The Tiger bats finally woke up. . Memphis Watson struck out six in the win on the mound and collected his 41st steal of the year, for a 4-1 win, setting up a rubber match against the Nikes.
Over on the softball diamond, Holy Trinity Catholic and Wapello had two aces dueling for the right to advance to the Regional Championship. All-State 2nd Teamer, Sydney Jarvis, and Quinn Zweibohmer, who earned All-State Honorable Mention honors as an 8th grader, combined for 19 strikeouts by the night’s end.
The Crusaders would finally get a rally going in the 5th inning to win 4-2 and advance to the Regional Championship, where they fell in a close 2-1 showdown against Seymour.
Elsewhere, Central Lee and Washington had walloped their respective opponents to set up a rematch of last year’s regional semifinal and this time the Demons would not let a comeback end their season as Isabella Salazar threw a one-hitter in a 10-0 final. Punching their ticket to the Regional Championship, which added onto a special season that saw them win their first outright SEC championship since 2013.
Heading back to the baseball fields, it appeared like Burlington Notre Dame was ready to rerun the script against New London, leading 3-2 after 3.5 innings, but again the Tigers struck. Four runs were pushed across as Tate Welcher and Gage Burden each tabbed two RBIs, as Gavin Menke-Bailey shut down any hopes for a comeback in an 8-5 final. Unfortunately, the Tigers’ hope for a return to Carroll would stall in the District Championship, when they were stonewalled by Pekin, 2-1.
In Class 2A, #5 Mediapolis’ Lance Ludens was tossing gem after gem as he struck out four in a 4-0 shutout of West Liberty, while Central Lee advanced to the district championship but came up short.
Class 3A Substate 6 pinned Mt. Pleasant and Fairfield against one another for the 3rd time this season and despite the looming weather, the game was played. Aiden Westercamp had the game defining throw from right field. That throw out at home allowed Fairfield’s Dain Burkhart, and eventual SEC Player of the Year, to pitch the complete game and give the Trojans the narrow 3-1 victory. Grayson Lowery, Payton Walker, and J.C. Sitar were named 1st Team All-SEC for Mt. Pleasant.
Ludens pitched six more masterful innings to shutout Durant 3-0 in the district championship to produce a spot in the Substate Championship against MFL MarMac. Head coach Rick Whitaker knew this team was special and Ludens proved it. His complete game, nine-strikeout performance, was lifted by a solo blast off the bat of Kyler Crow.
Mediapolis had punched their ticket to Carroll for the first time since 2015, going 27-2 in the process. Washington’s softball team was also able to earn the #7-seed for the Class 3A state tournament after upsetting Assumption in the Regional Championship. The Demons struggled at the tournament, but Ella Greiner earned a spot on the All-Tournament team and was joined by Leighton Salazar on the All-State 1st Team roster.
Lily Coil of Columbus and Ashlynn Huff of Van Buren County made the All-State 2nd Team for Class 2A, while Leah Helmick of Fairfield, Lyndsey Kelley of West Burlington/Notre Dame, and Mediapolis’ Payton Harris clinched a spot on the 3rd Team for Class 3A.
For Class 4A, Keirah Wiseman of Burlington made the 2nd Team as she hit 0.430 for the season and Fort Madison’s Brylie Lorence claimed a spot on the 3rd Team with 14 home runs and 49 RBIs.
It was now time to head to Carroll, where #5 Mediapolis was looking to take down #4 Unity Chirstian and it started off going the Bulldogs’ way with a Breaden Oliver triple to lead off the third inning. The top of the 4th inning saw Oliver double home two runs, until a controversial call said he had missed first base and none of the runs counted, leading to the Knights coming back to win 5-1. The Bulldogs finished the season with a 27-3 record. Ludens, who won 11 games on the mound with a 1.09 ERA and batted 0.526 for the season, was named 1st Team All-State Utility, while Crow was named 3rd Team All-State. Notre Dame’s Landry Haberichter and New London’s Memphis Watson made the 3rd Team for Class 1A, while Aiden Westercamp of Fairfield nabbed a spot on the All-State 3rd Team for Class 3A.
The slow-paced month of August allowed us the opportunity to greet a new sport into the fall rotation: Girls’ Tennis. Mt. Pleasant started off fast with a victory over Burlington Notre Dame, Keokuk, and Fort Madison. Lila Cook and Bella Dodds were proving to be quite the pair for the Panthers, while Lianah and Kantana Phanchanthong, and Mia Gray were picking up victories on the singles side.
Fairfield was proving to be tough as the Trojans, led by Poojita Mukadam, Ria Ross, Sriya Yammanur, and Natalie Steele tore through their schedule, dropping only two games in the entire month of August out of their seven matches.
The Holy Trinity Catholic volleyball team started Class 1A off as the favorite, returning Adalyn Kruse, last year’ SEISC-South Player of the Year, and three-time All-State attacker, Presley Myers.
Lastly, the gridiron game was ramping back up with Mt. Pleasant looking to build off of their 4-5 season the year prior and they were tested week one against a perennial playoff contender in Mediapolis. After allowing Quincy King and Gannon Gunn to pick apart the Panther defense for 68 yards on the opening drive touchdown for Mediapolis, Mt. Pleasant forced three turnovers, including the game clinching strip sack from Tate Dorothy to sneak out with a 17-14 victory.
Out on the paths, Mt. Pleasant’s Avery Fedler was looking to make a name for herself and did just that in her first action at the high school level, turning in a first-place time of 19 minutes and 7 seconds at an invitational in Williamsburg. Quintrie Lee took 11th, while Alaina Gourley of Danville snatched 7th place. On the boys’ side, Mt. Pleasant’s Silas Hulett also made a statement with a 10th place time of 17 minutes and 49 seconds, while #13 Mediapolis had Simon Wendel snatch 3rd place.
The WACO and Columbus boys’ team and the Van Buren County boys’ and girls’ teams also were ranked inside the top 20. Most would show off their ability at the Mt. Pleasant Invite.
Over on the volleyball courts, Burlington Notre Dame, who had a talented cast of experience and youth, and Wapello, who was looking to secure another SEISC-North Title, were catching their stride, while Mt. Pleasant’s talented senior roster headlined by Alex Scott and Addison Clark was looking to end the season with a winning record after sweeping Keokuk in their home opener.
Mt. Pleasant’s start of the football field extended to their first 2-0 start since 2017 after dismantling Knoxville 42-8. The defense again did their job, especially Isaiah Lange. Ramzy Davis found the endzone three times, while Grayson Walker connected with Asa Rose on a beautiful deep ball. But the exclamation mark was on the special teams side.
WACO toppled Winfield-Mt. Union 41-22 off of Hayden Shelman’s 250 rushing yards and six total touchdowns as they were looking to start the year 3-0. The Wolves would later beat English Valleys, foreshadowing a tight race for a final playoff spot.
Heading back to the tennis courts, Fairfield led the charge in the conference tournament, except for Keokuk’s Navaeh Logan, who grabbed the Conference Title on the singles side. Mt. Pleasant’s Cook and Dodds took 5th place in doubles. That success for the Trojans led to Poojita Mukadam and Natalie Steele in the singles and Ria Ross and Sriya Yammanur punching their ticket to the State Tournament set to lead off October.
Week three knocked down another domino for Mt. Pleasant, as the Panthers handled Oskaloosa to the tune of a 34-20 victory for their first undefeated start since 2008. Ryan Helling found paydirt once, while Lange dominated on both sides of the ball with 70 receiving yards and a touchdown and 3.5 more sacks. Elsewhere, Mediapolis was rebounding from a week one loss as Parker Holsteen rushed for 172 yards and two touchdowns to start district play and Danville was in the midst of a four-game winning streak and threatening Pekin for the top spot in the district standings.
The SEISC battled for conference supremacy on the volleyball court with #2 Holy Trinity Catholic sweeping Central Lee and Van Buren County to earn a spot in the championship match, while Burlington Notre Dame defeated Winfield-Mt. Union in straight sets and Wapello in a five set thriller to meet the Crusaders in the final match. Behind Kruse’s 33 kills and Myers’ 24 kills, the Crusaders captured their second consecutive SEISC crown. Wapello, with the help of Mila Jordan’s 28 total kills, snatched 3rd place over the Warriors.
Going back to the Mt. Pleasant Invite, the Panthers showed out in front of the home crowd with Fedler, who ranked #2 by the month’s end, winning the girls’ large division and Hulett taking the boys’ large division. Quintrie Lee took 4th place for the Panthers.
In the small class division for the girls’, WACO’s #24 Josie Dykstra snatched the bronze. The boys’ side saw #6 Jude Dykstra of WACO streak to the victory over Mediapolis’ #16 Simon Wendel.
The Mediapolis boys’ team ended the month at #16 with Will Schmidgall placed at #15. The Van Buren County boys’ team was put at #11 in the rankings with the help of #12 Lincoln Bainbridge and the girls’ team, who finished in 1st or 2nd place in all of their meets through September, found a spot at #7. The WACO boys’ team was place right behind Columbus at #6 in the rankings.
To end out the month of September, Mt. Pleasant, who was attempting to bounce back from tough loss to a future playoff team in week 4, was welcoming Washington to Bob Evans Field for their kickoff to district play. On this Homecoming Night, Mt. Pleasant was trying to end a losing streak that started in 2008 against the Demons. Griffen Jones provided a pivotal punch. With their backs against the wall, the Demons went to the air to try and move past the Panther defense, but Brody Clark was ready to pounce.
Mt. Pleasant would go on to win 44-20 to start district play 1-0. This would not be the last district game to involve a dramatic pick-six for the Panther defense.
But with that, the third quarter of KILJ’s Sports Year in Review is in the books! Tune in tomorrow as the Panthers make a run for the playoffs and a litany of local athletes run for state in Fort Dodge! This is KILJ’s Sports Year in Review brought to you by H&R Block!