Driscoll, Ridgeway, Thurm and Metz finish career with state championship

When the ball nestled into the glove of left fielder Alley Gorsh for the final out, Williamsburg High School owned its first state softball championship in program history, a 4-0 win over Davenport Assumption in the Class 3A title game featuring the No. 1 and 2 ranked teams Friday, July 21, at the Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge.

The senior class of Peyton Driscoll, Elle Ridgeway, Jenna Thurm and Rylie Metz have been key components in the Raiders’ journey to the top. As 8th-graders on the varsity roster, they were part of a team that came within one win of the state tournament, losing a 1-0 heartbreaker in the regional finals to Louisa-Muscatine.

Over the next three years as freshmen, sophomores and juniors, they helped Williamsburg get to the state tournament, placing second in 2020 and third in 2021 and 2022.

Now, as seniors appearing in their fourth state tournament, they finally succeeded bringing home a state title for a program that was started nearly 50 years ago in 1974 by the late Jim Turner.

This class has been a part of 159 Raider wins over the last five years, highlighted by this year’s state title and six WaMaC championships, one overall and five in the West Division. They were 9-3 in state tournament games and their 36 wins this season was a school record.

Each girl made contributions in Williamsburg’s championship victory. Driscoll pitched a complete game, five-hit shutout; Thurm singled and drove in two runs, Ridgeway had an RBI double and Metz came within inches of hitting a home run off the left/center field fence, winding up with a double.

“Historically, this will be the group to first accomplish what girls here have been trying to do the past 50 years,” said Williamsburg coach Adam Berte. “It’s hard to be the first to do anything and after three times coming close, it would have been easy for them to say it’s not going to happen for us. But these girls showed not just the determination to get back to state but the mental toughness to not let what happened in 2020, 2021 and 2022 effect how they played in 2023, and they used those experiences as a driving force to not be denied when the opportunity rose again.”

Driscoll also pitched a pair of gems in the Raiders’ 11-1 quarterfinal and 8-0 semifinal wins over Albia and Estherville Lincoln Center. Monday night she held Albia, who beat her 1-0 in the 2020 finals as a freshman, to four hits and struck out nine, retiring the last 12 batters she faced. Wednesday afternoon against E-LC, she gave up just two hits and fanned 13.

Ridgeway went 2-for-6 at the plate in those two games with one RBI, Thurm was 2-for-3 with a double and five RBI, and Metz 1-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored.

Thurm and Driscoll made the all-tournament team, joined by junior Shannon Finn and sophomore Carly Rich. Thurm was named team captain. Finn batted .600 in the tournament with five stolen bases and six runs scored. Rich hit .375 with three RBI and five runs scored.

On the season, Driscoll posted a 20-3 record with 184 strikeouts and an 0.89 ERA. Her career record was 90-23 with 928 strikeouts, 13 saves and a 1.62 ERA. She was 17-6 with 144 Ks and a 1.96 ERA as an 8th-grader, 16-4 with 194 Ks and 1.28 ERA as a freshman, 18-5 with 206 Ks and 2.00 ERA as a sophomore, and 19-5 with 200 Ks and 1.91 ERA as a junior.

Ridgeway batted .405 this year with 12 home runs and 54 RBI. She had a career batting average of .389 with 41 home runs and 219 RBI. As an 8th-grader, Ridgeway hit .342 with two homers and 20 RBIs; she hit .353 with four homers and 31 RBI as a freshman, .434 with 13 homers and 56 RBI as a junior, and .393 with 10 homers and 58 RBI as a junior.

Thurm hit .393 this year with 10 doubles, one triple, two home runs and 36 RBI. She hit .346 as a junior with five home runs, 13 doubles and 36 RBI, and .287 as a sophomore with three homers and 20 RBI. She also homered as freshman.

Metz hit .263 this season with seven doubles and 14 RBI. She stole 10 bases in 12 attempts and scored 30 runs. As a junior, Metz hit .310 with 22 RBI and 29 runs scored.

Berte said the team will obviously miss those four players next year, but with so many talented young players coming back the program is in good shape to make many more state title runs.

It could be without Berte running the show, however. Since taking over the program in 2017, Berte has compiled a 203-83 record, highlighted by this year’s championship, four straight top-3 finishes at state, one overall WaMaC title and five WaMaC West Division crowns.

Despite that success, the time spent away from his family has weighed heavily on Berte and he’s not sure if he will return for another season.

“Next year is still undecided,” Berte said. “This was always a year-to-year thing on my end, although I don’t know whether anyone else really knew that or not. The pull to step away, I’d say, has definitely increased the past two years. It’s been a combination of things, but family is certainly one of them.”

Berte says he feels a lot of guilt having his wife, Katie, essentially be a single parent for 2-3 months. He said his oldest child will probably start some organized activities this upcoming school year and next summer, and he asks himself if he will be able to be there for him or will Katie have to do that on her own too.

A few things are falling into place, Berte says, where he might be able to delegate some of the offseason stuff the team does to help with their family situation, but in season, he notes, “would be difficult no matter what.”

“All of that said, it would be hard to leave the girls,” Berte added. “But I feel if I do go the program is set up to be successful indefinitely if people can stay the course.”

Following is a list of team, individual records set this year.

Team

Most wins in a season — 36.

Most stolen bases in a state tournament game — 9, against Estherville Lincoln Center.

Most stolen bases in a season — 178.

Highest batting average — .342.

Best on base percentage — .418

Lowest pitching ERA — 1.42

Most strikeouts by pitchers — 286.

Individual

Most career strikeouts — Peyton Driscoll, 929.

Most career no-hitters — Driscoll, 8.

Lowest single season ERA — Driscoll, 0.84.

Best single season WHIP — Driscoll, 0.77.

Most career hits — Ridgeway, 225.

Most career home runs — Ridgeway, 41.

Most career RBI — Ridgeway, 219.

Most career stolen bases — Shannon Finn, 117.

*Ridgeway also holds the school record for most home runs in a season with 13, set in 2021, and Driscoll finished one win shy of the school record for career pitching victories with 90.