Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
2024 area softball recap
Demons, Comets and Huskies highlight wild year on the diamond
Conference championship races were as intense as ever in the 2024 Union area softball campaign, especially so in the Southeast and South Central Conferences.
The 2024 year saw both Washington and Cardinal jump up and down in their respective classes’ rankings and both schools challenge for a conference championship.
In the end, only one Union area team ended the season with a conference crown. Cardinal won its first South Central Conference championship, with a league record of 11-3.
The Comets beat out Knoxville (9-4) and Chariton (9-5) for the SCC crown, helped out by a couple of big wins late in the year, a 3-0 victory over Clarke and a 4-3 win over Centerville.
Washington kept pace with Burlington for the conference championship all year long, until a 7-4 loss to Keokuk on June 20. Before that, the Demons won their first 11 conference games.
Burlington (13-1) won the league by two games after a two-game sweep in Washington one week later. The Demons (11-3) finished second. Fairfield (4-11) was fifth, and Mt. Pleasant (1-14) was sixth.
In the Southeast Iowa Super Conference, it was Highland that posed the biggest conference title threat for the Union area. The Huskies made a run at the North Division, finishing 12-3 for second place.
Highland couldn’t quite catch Louisa-Muscatine, a squad that went perfect 16-0 in North Division play. The Huskies gave the Falcons all they could handle, falling 4-3 at home early in the season to the eventual conference champs, and losing 4-3 at Louisa-Muscatine on June 18.
Hillcrest Academy finished fourth in the SEISC North, going 8-7 in league play. Columbus (5-10) and Winfield-Mount Union (4-12) finished sixth and seventh respectively. Pekin was eighth, at 3-12, and WACO finished ninth, att 0-11, in its first year back as a program.
Van Buren County took third place in the SEISC South, finishing 7-4, which was three games out of first. The Warriors challenged both first place Centrala Lee (11-1) and second place West Burlington-Notre Dame (10-1), but couldn’t knock off either.
New London took seventh in the SEISC South. The Tigers went 1-10, with their lone conference win coming in a 9-5 win at Danville.
Mid-Prairie finished the year with a 5-13 conference record in the River Valley South Division, for sixth. Keota was 10th in the South Iowa Cedar League, going 2-12.
In the postseason, a handful of area teams were slated to go far, but a couple of upsets in the regional semifinals helped keep the Union area out of the state tournament.
Cardinal came in to the Class 2A Region 5 tournament with the top seed, but fell 4-0 to a ranked Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont squad, which eventually made the state semifinals, and still is in the tournament.
Washington faced a similar fate. The Demons were the second seed in the Class 3A Region 8 tournament, but like Cardinal, took on a ranked team in the semifinals. Central Lee stunned Washington with a 5-4 comeback victory.
Highland made a run in the Class 1A Region 8 tournament, nearly knocking off top-seeded Sigourney. The Huskies fell 2-1 in walk-off fashion against the Savages, who much like EBF, have advanced to the state semifinals.
