Raiders bring home Class 3A State Championship

FORT DODGE — Top-ranked Williamsburg scored four early runs, Peyton Driscoll and her defense made them stick, and the Raiders topped No. 2 Davenport Assumption, 4-0, in the Class 3A state softball final Friday afternoon at the Rogers Sports Complex.

“Words can’t describe it,” said junior center fielder Shannon Finn. “We’ve come so close, so many times. “This is for so much more than us. It’s for our families. It’s for our community. It’s for Tate Schaefer.”

The Raiders had knocked on the door before, finishing second, third and third in their previous three appearances. This time, they kicked it in.

“I wanted that pink shirt so bad,” Driscoll said. “We’ll always be known as the team that won it, and nobody will forget us.”

Williamsburg coach Adam Berte added, “it’s a feeling of happiness for our coaching staff who get little to no fanfare or acknowledgment for anything, especially something as difficult as winning a state championship, and the joy on the faces of the girls. They have worked so hard to accomplish this and helping them live out a goal and dream is what you hope for as a coach.”

The Raiders (36-9) outscored their three state opponents by a 23-1 margin. And as was the case in the first two rounds, Williamsburg struck early.

A common denominator in both two-run rallies (one in the first inning, one in the third) was eighth-grade pinch-runner Ava Hocker, who has speed to burn. She scored twice from second base without the ball leaving the infield.

“Ava was a difference maker,” said Berte. “To score from second on two balls that only got a few feet away from the pitcher was incredible. She can fly and those two runs were big for us,”

Finn led off the bottom of the first with a walk, then stole second. She scored on Jenna Thurm’s sharply hit single to left field, and Thurm reached second base on the throw home trying to get Finn out. Hocker courtesy-ran for Thurm and scored from second on Alley Gorsh’s bloop single over the pitcher’s head that the shortstop bobbled.

Williamsburg added to its 2-0 lead in the third.

Carly Rich walked with one out and scored all the way from first on Ridgeway’s double to right field. Hocker pinch-ran for Ridgeway and scored from second on Thurm’s line drive off the pitcher’s glove that the Assumption second baseman fielded and threw out Thurm, but by that time Hocker was already on her way home and scored, making it a 4-0 Raiders lead.

Assumption (34-7), who was making its seventh 3A finals appearance in the last eight years, put pressure on Driscoll and her defense in each of the last four innings, getting eight batters on base and six runners into scoring position.

Each time, however, the Raiders held firm and made plays when they needed to, especially Driscoll who struggled with her control in the sixth inning and loaded the bases with one out. She got out of the jam by catching a line drive and turning it into an inning-ending double play.

“Assumption has good hitters,” said Driscoll, who had just one strikeout after fanning 22 batters the first two rounds. “They’re tough. I told myself to play loose and have fun.”

Thurm was selected as the all-tournament captain. Driscoll, Finn and Rich joined her on the select team.

Since the preseason, this just felt like the Raiders’ year. Friday, they fulfilled their destiny, going wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team.

“Once we got to the postseason, I said, ‘We’re getting those pink shirts,’” Driscoll said.

And they did.