Prep Softball- The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) released the Regional Brackets for all five classes yesterday and there will be no mystery for our local teams, as everyone has played each other at least once before in their program’s history. Classes 1A and 2A will have their first-round matchup on July 6th, while Classes 3A and 4A will get started on July 9th with all games scheduled to start at 7 pm.
Class 1A Region 8
On the bottom half of the bracket, WACO will attempt to knock off Pekin for the first time in their program’s history going back to at least 2009. Since bringing their program back, the Warriors have been outscored 85 to 17 but their 10-2 loss back on June 9th has been the closest since a 7-6 loss back in 2013.
The winner of this matchup will travel to play Holy Trinity Catholic on July 8th.
Players to Watch: Ezra Parsons (Pekin) and Natalie Wagler (WACO)
Class 2A Region 3
A majority of our local teams will be duking it out within region 3, as the Southeast Iowa Super Conference will have a pair of division rivalries play out in the opening round.
From the south, New London/Winfield-Mt. Union will be eyeing their fourth straight victory over Danville in front of the Tiger home crowd. The Bears have had no answer for Kylea Schwenker, as she has logged 20 strikeouts in two complete game efforts. Tiger head coach Emily Parks had this to say about her ace,
“…she’s our pitcher. So, we really came to have defense behind her and make the big plays and do all that, and it’s all coming together, which is really exciting to have her and then the defense behind it.”
Danville has shown some pop to their bats, especially from Aubrey Nahorny, Elizabeth Jensen, and Brynley Wenig, but they have been lacking a consistent lineup. On the other side, New London/Winfield-Mt. Union’s defense can become suspect rather quickly.
The winner will then have to take on #3 Louisa-Muscatine on July 8th.
Players to Watch: Quin Smith (NL/W-MU) and Brynley Wenig (Danville)
Over on the north side, Wapello will welcome Columbus for their opening-round affair. The Arrows have also won their last three matchups against Columbus, including a pair of beatdowns this season of 17-4 and 10-2. The Wildcats are a young team, while Wapello has circled the wagons around Quinn Zweibohmer, who is batting 0.540 and tossing a 1.47 ERA to the tune of 153 strikeouts.
The winner of this game will hit the road to play Regina Catholic on July 8th.
Players to Watch: Quinn Zweibohmer (Wapello) and Kaylee McCullough (Columbus)
Getting a pass to the quarterfinals was West Burlington/Notre Dame. The Falcons will have to fly to Lisbon for their showdown on July 8th. The two teams have met three times before with West Burlington/Notre Dame winning the first two matchups and the Lions claiming the last one in 2023, 12-5.
As their 0.500 record indicates, the Falcons have been all over the place this season. Yet, there’s a formula for WB/ND, they have to score a lot of runs to give themselves a chance at winning. In fact, all of their wins at the time of writing this all of their wins come when they put up at least seven runs.
The winner will play the winner between Louisa-Muscatine and New London/Winfield-Mt. Union or Danville.
Players to Watch: Alexis Jensen (Lisbon) and Madelyn Thomas (WB-ND)
Back to the bottom half of the bracket, Van Buren County will start the postseason at home with a showdown against West Branch. After an impressive four-game winning streak had the Warriors down Fairfield, Wapello, and West Burlington-Notre Dame, Van Buren County has dropped four of their last five with the squad struggling to put up runs.
If West Branch played anywhere other than the River Valley-South, then the Bears would possibly be looking at hosting a playoff game. West Branch goes from 12-12 overall to 11-2 if you extinguish all of their conference games.
This will be their first contest against one another in over decade with the Bears winning by a combined score of 24 to 3 in their trio of games from 2012 to 2014.
The winner will advance to play either Regina Catholic or Wapello/Columbus.
Players to Watch: Lizzie Camp (VBC) and Lander Malloy (West Branch)
Class 3A Region 8
Central Lee was slotted in at #15 for the Class 3A preseason rankings, now the Hawks will have to go travel to West Liberty to start their postseason journey. The two teams met up last year in late June with the Comets thumping the Hawks, 11-1.
Kenna Sandoval has been her usual self at the plate with a slugging percentage north of 1.000, but unlike the past couple of seasons they have not been able to outslug their opponent as regularly. Additionally, this young pitching staff, which is made up of one junior, three freshmen, and one 8th grader, is still trying to find their way, despite still posting a respectable 3.95 ERA.
Players to Watch: Brynn Cassady (West Liberty) and Kenna Sandoval (Central Lee)
Washington will have a tough road to navigate if they would like to return to the state tournament, as the Demons will start with a road matchup against Davis County. The two have not met up since 2019 and while the Demons hold a 3-2 series lead, the Mustangs won the most recent matchup, 7-5.
Compared to last season, the Demons are struggling in the circle with a team ERA sitting at 5.38, while still putting up close to seven runs per game. Washington has done a nice job shaking off a slow start to the season by winning 8 of their last 12, which has gone together with Leighton Salazar finding her bat again.
Players to Watch: Ally Batterson (Davis County) and Colbie Greiner (Washington)
On the bottom half of the bracket, Mediapolis will be heading to Centerville for their opening-round matchup. Centerville beat the Bullettes the one time they played them in 2019, 13-0.
Mediapolis does not possess the most amount of firepower at the plate, so they will have to count on their pitching prowess to get them an upset victory to start postseason play.
Players to Watch: Kaylee Davis (Centerville) and Payton Harris (Mediapolis)
Lastly, Fairfield will get a home game against Mid-Prairie to finish the bracket. Once, a yearly doubleheader from 2015 to 2019, now this will be their first matchup in seven years. The Trojans rattled off eight straight in the series before the Golden Hawks snuck away with a 3-2 victory to bookend the series.
Fairfield is simply an inconsistent team. The Trojans will have moments of brilliance, such as 9-1 victories over Mt. Pleasant, then fall back down and lose 12-7 to Van Buren County or just recently 17-11 against Washington.
Players to Watch: Leah Helmick (Fairfield) and Sophie Miller (Mid-Prairie)
Class 4A Region 5
In a battle for Lee County, Keokuk will host Fort Madison to start their postseason journey. The Bloodhounds have won their last nine games against Keokuk, despite the winless Chiefs pushing them to the brink in their doubleheader: 8-7 and 5-3.
Fort Madison will have to improve two aspects of their game if they would like to make a run: slugging and errors. As a team, the Bloodhounds are slugging just 0.318 with 19 extra base hits for the season; defensively Fort Madison has erred 86 times this season for a fielding percentage of 0.852.
Keokuk’s offense has completely disappeared. The Chiefs have managed just 19 runs over the last 11 games, including a streak of just one run over the last four games.
The winner will travel to North Scott on July 11th.
Players to Watch: Lucia Darnell (Fort Madison) and Kynlee Church (Keokuk)
Burlington earned a bye and will play either Clinton or Central DeWitt. With Kylee Hill playing full-time for the Grayhounds, the junior is hitting 0.489 at the plate and dishing out a 2.55 ERA in the circle.
Region 7
It is déjà vu all over again for Mt. Pleasant as for the second year in a row the Panthers will be heading to Oskaloosa to start their postseason journey. Oskaloosa has won all five games of this series, including a 10-2 victory last year in this position.
However, the Panthers nearly mounted a comeback in their home opener this season, as Oskaloosa escaped with a 12-8 victory. It was a night that saw Mt. Pleasant commit six errors. Recently, the Panthers have been rolling, winning 8 of their last 14 as Chaley Cook continues to find her stride from the circle. Head coach Curtis Bjork discuss his ace after a recent 10-1 win over Keokuk,
“She’s been our workhorse and she’s really stepped up to compete for us, you know, whatever we need, she has no questions. We know she’s gonna compete for us. It’s really proud of her and the work ethic she has, and we’ll go again tomorrow, you know, because we got two tomorrow, so she’ll throw again some tomorrow, so excited to see what our girls can do down the next week and a half of the season.”
Add in the Abigai Shelangoski and Paityn Ensminger tandem at the plate and an ever-improving defense, the Panthers have shown the ability to compete with anybody.
KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. The winner will face off against Xavier on the road on July 11th.
Players to Watch: Ireland McGraw (Oskaloosa) and Paityn Ensminger (Mt. Pleasant)
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