March 29, 2024

Big night ends with only one state tourney team

The sports staff at the Newton Daily News was busy on Monday night.

Three of our five area softball teams were playing for the right to take part in the state tournament next week but only one will make the trek to Fort Dodge.

Class 1A No. 4 Lynnville-Sully will be at Harlan Rogers Park for the third straight year, while Prairie City-Monroe and Collins-Maxwell/Baxter had their state dreams dashed by Solon and Iowa City Regina, respectively.

The Hawks could have an intriguing semifinal game if they can advance past the opening round on Tuesday morning.

Hawk senior pitcher Madison Rasmusson could face off against a future teammate. AGWSR, ranked fifth in 1A, features all-state pitcher Ashley Sicard and both her and Rasmusson will be on the DMACC softball squad next season.

That could be lots of fun for both of them.

CMB and PCM weren’t having much fun at the end of their regional final games.

The Mustangs needed to avoid No. 1 Solon and No. 2 Benton in their regional pairings but the state had other ideas.

Solon was the 4A runner-up last year and is a favorite along with the Bobcats to win the 3A title this year.

The Spartans are hitting .462 as a team and Emily Ira leads all 3A pitchers in strikeouts, but the Mustangs held their own.

They were a few hits shy of being able to put up a few more runs. And a few uncharacterstic errors did them in on the other side of the ball.

CMB was in control of the 10th ranked Regals through four innings, but the Regals scored all five runs in the fifth to win by four.

The Raiders have never been to state as part of CMB so reaching the regional final for the first time in program history should be something to celebrate.

I hate tears. And I hate having to take pictures of kids and their tears. Unfortunately, it’s part of our jobs as journalists.

I have no doubt that Lynnville-Sully will continue to be dominant as that program appears to be running on all cylinders.

Based on what I saw this year, there is no reason why CMB and PCM can’t find their way to Fort Dodge in the near future.

Both teams lose three seniors but each squad has plenty of talent returning including a pitcher capable of leading a team to the state tournament.

I know Colfax-Mingo softball coach Bryan Poulter was not happy with how this year’s season ended.

But the Tigerhawks lose just two seniors and have plenty of talent returning as they make their way into the South Iowa Cedar League.

With all the underclassmen returning on all five of our softball teams, 2016 should be a fun season.