Softball state champions

FORT DODGE — The 2024 softball season came to an end last week as five champions were crowned in the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s Softball State Tournament.

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The 2024 champions featured Pleasant Valley, Carlisle, Williamsburg, Van Meter and Sigourney.

Beginning in Class 5A, No. 2 Pleasant Valley (40-3) downed No. 1 Valley (38-5) in a high scoring affair 14-11.

Pleasant Valley defeated No. 6 Urbandale (24-19) 4-2 in the semifinals, while Valley won against No. 5 Ankeny (22-22) 8-1.

Urbandale went on to take third after beating Ankeny 6-5.

In the championship round, it was Valley who took an early advantage. The Tigers held onto a 5-1 lead after three innings and 6-3 after four.

However, everything changed after the Spartans scored a whopping nine runs in the top of the fifth to make it 12-6. Valley cut it to three, 13-10, with a quartet of runs in the bottom of the sixth, but that’s as close as they would come.

In Class 4A, No. 7 Carlisle (37-8) topped No. 4 ADM (31-10) 7-6.

To get to the championship, Carlisle defeated No. 6 North Scott (32-6) 6-2 and ADM downed No. 1 North Polk (37-6) 7-2.

North Scott went on to take third after besting North Polk 6-2.

Carlisle had to make a comeback against ADM for the championship. The Wildcats trailed the Tigers 5-1 after three innings. Carlisle found a spark between the fourth and fifth scoring five runs, while holding ADM to just one to make it 6-6 with just two innings remaining.

After a scoreless sixth, the Wildcats scored a lone run in the top of the seventh to win it.

The Class 3A title game featured No. 2 Williamsburg (33-12) and No. 4 Assumption (27-13-1). The Raiders went on to win their second straight title with a 12-9 win over the Knights.

Williamsburg held off No. 3 Wahlert Catholic (31-11) 3-2 in the semifinals, while Assumption knocked off No. 1 Benton (32-9) 10-7.

Wahlert Catholic went on to defeated Benton in the third place game 7-1.

In the title game, Williamsburg brought six runs home in the bottom of the first inning and they would never trail.

By the end of the fourth frame, the Raiders built a 11-3 lead. The Knights went on to score six in the fifth to cut it to two, 11-9, but that was their final runs of the afternoon.

No. 1 Van Meter (43-1) and No. 3 Audubon (29-5) faced off in the 2A title game with the Bulldogs taking a 5-3 win over the Wheelers.

Van Meter needed eight innings to get by No. 4 East Marshall (33-6) in the semifinals 4-3, while Audubon scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to survive an upset against No. 7 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (24-14) 3-2.

EBF took third after thrashing East Marshall 14-2.

Van Meter had to make a bit of a comeback against Audubon for the title. The Bulldogs faced a 3-1 deficit heading into the fifth innings. They got the runs they needed though, scored two in the fifth to tied it and two more in the sixth to win it.

Finally, in Class 1A No. 6 Sigourney (26-7) took down No. 1 Martensdale-St. Marys (30-7) 3-2.

The Savages defeated No. 7 Southeast Warren (25-3) 6-1 in their semifinal bout. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils topped No. 4 St. Edmond (26-7) 2-1.

Southeast Warren grabbed a third-place finish after defeating St. Edmond 12-8 in the third/fourth place matchup.

The championship game was a defensive battle. Sigourney scored one run in the first inning to take an early lead, but the Blue Devils followed with a pair in the second to take a lead themselves.

From then on out, neither team scored for four innings.

But in the end it was Sigourney who would score last, closing it out with two runs in the top half of the seventh.