No. 6 PCM opens 3A state tournament against No. 7 West Liberty

State Softball Tournament

Who: No. 6 PCM (25-4) vs. No. 7 West Liberty (22-7)

What: Class 3A State Quarterfinals

Where: Harlan Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge

When: Monday at 7:30 p.m. on Iowa Central Field

Tale of the Tape West Liberty PCM

Hits 284 258

Runs 237 233

Doubles 63 - 9th 64 - 8th

Triples 14 - 6th 5

Home Runs 25 - 4th 11

Walks 98 76

HBP 22 39 - 1st

Strikeouts (batting) 86 86

Total Bases 450 - 7th 365

Batting Average .382 - 3rd .357 - 7th

On Base Percentage .468 - 1st .440 - 7th

Stolen Bases 97 91

Fielding Percentage .962 - 3rd .974 - 1st

Earned Run Average 3.09 1.87 - 4th

Strikeouts (pitching) 78 180 - 10th

Opponents’ BA .253 .229

*Rankings are among teams in 3A.

About West Liberty: The Comets defeated Roland-Story, 7-0, in the regional semifinals and then advanced to state with a 7-2 win over West Marshall in the regional final. West Liberty defeated 3A No. 2 and defending state champion Williamsburg, 10-2, on May 31. The Comets also have wins over 2A No. 11 Cascade on June 25 and 2A No. 5 Durant on June 30 and July 1. They split their two games with 5A No. 10 Muscatine and 5A Bettendorf and also lost to 5A No. 5 West Des Moines Valley, 5A No. 8 Pleasant Valley and dropped games to 3A Fairfield, 3A West Burlington-Notre Dame and 2A No. 2 Louisa-Muscatine. Valley and Pleasant Valley qualified for the state tournament in 5A, while Williamsburg is back in 3A and Cascade, Louisa-Muscatine and Durant are 2A state qualifiers. Senior Pearson Hall headlines the roster. She’s batting .614, has an on-base percentage of .686 and leads the Comets with 51 hits, 15 homers, 51 RBIs, 13 doubles, six triples, 15 walks and 121 total bases. Sophomore Sully Hall is batting .467 with an OBP of .533. She also has a team-most 45 runs and 22 steals along with three homers, 19 RBIs, 61 total bases and 13 walks. West Liberty has four players hitting better than .400. Junior Mallory Wuff is the team’s best pitcher. She has a 2.16 earned run average in 27 games and 21 starts.

About PCM: The Mustangs take a six-game win streak into the state tournament. They rallied from a 5-1 hole to defeat 3A No. 11 Missouri Valley, 13-5, in the regional final. They also have wins over 2A state qualifier East Marshall and 4A state qualifier Pella as well as two wins over 2A No. 12 Grand View Christian, one win over 2A No. 13 Pleasantville and a season sweep of West Marshall. PCM’s losses came to 4A No. 6 Carlisle, 4A No. 13 Grinnell, 4A Gilbert and 2A No. 1 and state qualifier Van Meter, which won the game 5-4 in 14 innings. Freshman Libby Winters leads PCM with a .516 batting average and a .545 on-base percentage. She also boasts a team-best 47 hits, 38 runs, 14 doubles, three triples, 30 RBIs, 69 total bases and 23 steals. Senior Addison Steenhoek is batting .407 and junior Kyra Naeve’s batting average is .406. Junior Lillian Humpal has a team-best four homers and junior Tori Lindsay’s team-best 16 hit by pitches set a new school record. Steenhoek also has a school-record 751 career putouts. Junior Rylee Parsons, freshman Camden Webb and Winters are part of PCM’s trio of pitchers. Parsons is 13-1 with an earned run average of 2.06. She has 56 strikeouts in 74 2/3 innings. Webb is 9-2 with three saves and an ERA of 1.84. She has fanned 99 batters in 80 innings. Winters is 3-1 with an ERA of 1.21. She has 25 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings. The Mustangs set new school records with 36 hit by pitches and 64 doubles. PCM’s 25 wins this year and last year are not a school record, but they are the most for the program since at least 2008-09.

What’s At Stake: PCM has never reached the semifinals at the state tournament. A win over West Liberty moves the Mustangs into the 3A semifinals on Channel Seeds Field at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The loser plays in a consolation game on Yankee Field at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. PCM’s second opponent will be either No. 1 Dubuque Wahlert (35-7) or No. 13 Center Point-Urbana (25-12). The rest of the 3A tournament field includes No. 2 Williamsburg, No. 5 Albia, No. 9 Estherville Lincoln Central and No. 10 Washington.