State baseball champions crowned

The 2024 baseball season has come and gone now, which also marks the end of the 2023-24 sports season.

With the completion of the 2024 Iowa High School Athletic Associations State Tournament it means that four state champions have been crowned across Iowa’s four baseball classes.

Those champions include Cedar Rapids Kennedy in Class 4A, North Polk in 3A, Underwood in 2A and Lynnville-Sully in 1A.

Beginning with the 4A title and Cedar Rapids Kennedy. The Cougars (36-4) downed Dowling Catholic (25-16) 7-3 for the title.

Kennedy defeated Johnston 8-7 in the semifinal, while Dowling topped Iowa City High 5-1 to get to the title.

In the title game, the two squads went scoreless through the first two innings. Kennedy kicked it up a notch in the next three innings.

What was a scoreless game turned into a 5-0 Kennedy lead by the end of the fourth. Dowling cut it to 5-2, but the Cougars added two more in the bottom half the fifth to put the game away.

In Class 3A, North Polk (29-6) just slipped by Bishop Heelan (34-11) 5-4.

The Comets and Crusaders took down the top two seeds in the bracket to get to the title. North Polk defeated No. 2 Marion 2-1, while Heelan got the better of top seeded Wahlert Catholic 6-3.

It took every inning to decide a winner in the title bout. After a pair of scoreless innings, North Polk took the lead with two in the bottom of the third.

Bishop Heelan answered back with a trio in the fourth to take its first lead. The Crusaders increased that lead to 4-2 after the top half the fifth, but a pair of runs from the Comets tied it up 4-4.

Both teams went without a run in the sixth and it was North Polk who got it done with a walk-off winner in the bottom of the seventh as Heelan was held without a run in its half the frame.

The Class 2A title featured Underwood (30-2) and New Hampton (29-7).

The Eagles had to comeback against Chariton in their semifinal 8-7, while the Chickasaws defeated Sumner-Fredericksburg 7-3 in the semifinal.

Underwood and New Hampton were scoreless through three innings in the title matchup on Friday. Once the Eagles broke the seal with a run in the fourth, they only increased their lead from there.

The Eagles scored three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth on their way to the crown.

Finally, in Class 1A Lynnville-Sully (29-3) topped Remsen St. Mary’s (25-5) 7-1 to hoist the trophy.

Lynnville-Sully defeated top seeded Akron-Westfield 4-0 to get to the title game. Remsen St. Mary’s got the better of Newman Catholic 7-4.

The Hawks quickly built a 2-0 lead over the Remsen in the final. Remsen cut it to one with a run in the bottom of the third, but they would never score again.

Meanwhile, Lynnville-Sully scored once more in the fifth and closed it out with four in the seventh to close it out.