Last night, 24 schools punched their ticket to the state softball tournament in Fort Dodge in Class 1A, 2A, and 3A.

On the Mahaska Zone Network, you heard Sigourney make an upset bid against the #2 team in the state in New London. The Savages grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI single by senior Jordan Carter. Carter was also in the circle for the Savages, and through six innings, allowed only one hit and no runs. Sigourney would have minor threats in a couple of different innings, but were unable to add any insurance, which would prove costly.

In the bottom of the 7th, with the state tournament berth on the line, Carter induced two quick groundouts, needing only one more out to clinch the upset win. Cleanup hitter Emily Parks from New London hit a little bloop single up the middle to keep the game alive, and then the only other senior in the order for the Tigers, Jorgi Kreiger, came to the plate looking to keep her career alive. Down to her last strike, Kreiger made contact and launched a walk-off two-run home run to give New London a shocking 2-1 win to send them to the state tournament in one of the more gut-wrenching games you’ll ever see at the high school level.

Despite the loss, it was a phenomenal game from Sigourney. Jordan Carter was masterful all game long in the circle, pitching 6 2/3 innings, striking out five and allowing only three hits the whole game. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be.

The Savages have a bright future moving forward under Head Coach Shelly Streigle. Although they lose the services of Carter and outfielder Courtney Herman, the rest of the starting lineup consisted of four freshmen and three sophomores. Sigourney’s breakout season ended with a record of 26-12. New London will go to state with a 30-2 record.

In other Class 1A action, Lynnville-Sully got the area off the hook in the smaller classes, as they battled through a surprising bracket to get a 9-1 win over Murray to make it back to Fort Dodge. The Hawks will face River Valley in the first round, who upset the top ranked team in the state last night in Akron-Westfield. That effectively makes New London the #1 seed, and Lynnville-Sully is #2 on the other half of the bracket, as the 3rd ranked team, Woodbury Central, also fell before state. Lynnville-Sully will be in action next Tuesday at 11:30 AM against River Valley looking to move into the state semifinals.

In Class 3A last night, Solon knocked off PCM to hold serve and make it to state, where they will serve as the top seed. Tonight, after a most unusual semifinal round, we will determine the Class 4A and 5A state tournament teams.

In Class 4A Region 5, #14 Fairfield is looking to complete their run to state after an upset of #4 Oskaloosa, as they’ll face #12 North Scott tonight. That game will be at 7 pm this evening. In Class 4A Region 6, Pella is the surprise team, as they beat #2 Indianola in a huge upset Saturday, 4-0. The Lady Dutch will face Marion, who pulled a road upset as well, defeating Cedar Rapids Xavier, 1-0. That game will be in Oskaloosa at 7 pm this evening, as one of those two unranked teams will be at state.

In another game of note, #3 Winterset hosts #7 Norwalk, as the draw will eliminate another of the top eight teams before state tonight. That game is also at 7 pm.

Last night was also postseason baseball makeup games in Class 1A and 2A. There were a few area teams in action in Class 2A. PCM dominated Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 13-3 in six innings. That game was in Albia, and followed Pella Christian’s win over Central Decatur, 9-4. PC will face Albia, while PCM will take on Davis County. Those games are tonight, with DC and PCM taking the field first in Albia at 5 PM. Also last night, Mid-Prairie fell in a thriller, 8-7, to Central Lee.

We’ll have plenty of baseball action for you tonight here on the Mahaska Zone Network. Starting around 4:45, John Martenson will be in Sully to call North Mahaska’s postseason opener against Iowa Valley. Iowa Valley is 16-6 on the year, and North Mahaska will have to play extremely well to move into the next round. That game will be on 99.5 FM and AM 740 KMZN and on kboeradio.com. First pitch slated for 5 PM. As soon as John finishes up, I will be in Bussey for Twin Cedars vs. Moulton-Udell. The Sabers’ trek back to state will be a little tougher this year, but they should be a favorite tonight.

They’re on the back end of a doubleheader, and will start right around 7 pm depending on the first game. Our broadcast will immediately follow the North Mahaska game on 99.5 FM and AM 740 KMZN and on kboeradio.com.

While it has not been a kind postseason to several area softball teams this year, there are still a few of squads looking to punch their ticket to the state tournament this evening.

On the Mahaska Zone Network, you’ll hear the Sigourney softball team looking for an upset against the #2 team in Class 1A, New London. That game will take place in Ottumwa tonight at Huston Field, and the first pitch will be delivered at 7 PM. Our pregame on 104.9 FM KBOE and kboeradio.com will begin at 6:45, with Katelyn Buckalew and Emery Songer on the call. Sigourney enters the contest 26-11, but will need to play a very good game to knock off the 29-2 favorites from New London.

Also in Class 1A tonight, Region 6 will determine its representative at state, and Lynnville-Sully will be looking to get the job done to get back to Fort Dodge. The 34-3 Hawks had to walk-off in their last game to get to this point, but the 5-4 win was good enough against Martensdale-St. Marys on Friday. They will play Murray, who pulled an upset on Wayne in Corydon last week. Murray enters a sizeable underdog in terms of the bracket, but have a very impressive 27-4 record entering tonight’s game despite being unranked. That game takes place in Pleasantville at 7 PM tonight.

In Class 3A, Prairie City-Monroe is looking to get a big upset as well, as they’ll take on the #1 team in the state in Solon. That game is in Grinnell tonight at 7 PM as well.

Upsets have been the name of the game so far, especially in regards to our area teams, as top seeded Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, Pella Christian, and Oskaloosa all fell in their regional brackets last week. They were far from the only teams in their classes to get knocked off prematurely, however.

In Class 4A, Saturday night was a rough one for favorites, as #2 Indianola was upset by Pella, 4-0, and #5 Carlisle was knocked off by Boone, 5-3. Throw in #4 Oskaloosa’s loss and the fact that #3 Winterset is facing #7 Norwalk tomorrow in their regional final, there will at most be only four of the top eight ranked teams in the state in Fort Dodge playing for a state title.

In Class 2A, #2 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont and #6 Pella Christian both were beaten, so these results show that really anything can happen when this time of the year comes in all sports.

The Mahaska American 9 &  10 year old All-Star team wrapped up the District 4 championship last week and will advance to the State championship July 25 – August 1 in Davenport. The team ended up with an 8-0 record in district play.

On Monday, the 6th, they travelled to Lynnville-Sully and won 20-2. Lynnville-Sully’s pitchers struggled, giving up 18 walks in the game. American had five hits in the game, paced by Trey Miller’s single and double. Kamden Criss and Braxton George also had doubles and Luke Fynaardt had a single to round out the attack. Braxton George pitched 3 innings of no-hit ball to pick up the win. He had no walks and struck out two. Cael Butler gave up one hit in one inning of work to close out the game.

After a bye on Tuesday, the team travelled to Newton. The game would end up being played as the championship game, as neither team had lost in pool play and no other teams could catch the winner. The game was a classic pitcher’s duel between American’s Braxton George and Newton’s Turner

Williams. The two teams traded runs in the first, with American’s run coming via Logan Hoskinson scoring on a wild pitch. Newton struck next in the top of the 4th, scoring a run on a walk followed by a two out single from Luke Thomason. The game remained 2-1 until the bottom of the 5th, when American finally broke into the scoring column again. With one out, Kamden Criss drew a walk.

After a foul out to the catcher, Logan Hoskinson drew another walk. With Williams reaching his pitch limit, Brody Bauer was brought in to pitch to Braxton George. George flared a single just out of the reach of the shortstop to bring home both runners for a 3-2 lead. Logan Hoskinson came in a got the final three outs for the save.

George pitched 5 innings, giving up 5 hits and two walks while striking out 4. His two run base hit ended up being the only hit for American, to go along with 6 walks.

The team now advances to Davenport for a week long stay for the State tournament. If anyone would like to help support the team financially, please contact either Chris Fynaardt at 295-4354 or T.J. Criss at 660-9402.

Story Provided By The Oskaloosa Harold