The state softball tournament’s first round concluded last night in Fort Dodge, and Pella is the only area team left to battle for a state title.

Lynnville-Sully played a very competitive game in the Class 1A Quarterfinals, but fell to River Valley, 3-2. That game was tight throughout, but River Valley took the lead in the bottom of the 4th with a two-run homer and held onto it for the win.

Lynnville-Sully now has two consolation games that they will try to win to finish as high as fifth place in the state. Their first consolation game will be today at 10 AM against Marquette Catholic, who fell to AGWSR 6-5. The other winner’s bracket semifinal is New London against Logan-Magnolia.

Last night, several Class 1A and 2A baseball teams looked to punch their ticket to the state tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines. Among those who succeeded were the Davis County Mustangs.

Davis County got a 5-1 win over Des Moines Christian to get back to the state tournament for the first time since 2012, which was the senior season for a class of ten contributors including Iowa Hawkeye pitchers Calvin Mathews and Josh Martsching.

The Mustangs were awarded the #2 seed in the eight team bracket, so there is a legitimate chance they could make a deep run to a state title. The lone championship in school history was claimed in 2011.

DC’s first opponent will be Roland-Story, who sits at 25-14 on the year. That game will be at 7:30 next Monday at Principal Park in Des Moines. The top seed in Class 2A is 37-3 Cascade of Western Dubuque.

The Iowa State Softball Tournament began yesterday, and a couple of area Class 4A teams were in action.

Pella was a team that took everyone by surprise. The Lady Dutch qualified for state after finishing in fifth place in the Little Hawkeye Conference with a 4-7 conference record. But they slipped by Knoxville, upset #2 Indianola and dominated upset-minded Marion in the regional final to make state.

Their miraculous run will continue, as they knocked off #6 Fort Dodge, 3-2. Their next game will not be an easy one, as they take on the two-time defending state champion Fillies from Dallas Center-Grimes. DCG is #9 in the final rankings, but has played better of late with a healthy Rachel Lowary leading the way.

The Lady Dutch did have two conference games with the Fillies this year, and split the pair. In Pella on June 3rd, DCG got an 8-4 win, and in Dallas Center on June 18th, Pella pulled off a 10-8 win. The rubber match will determine who will play for a state championship, and will begin at 7:30 PM Thursday at the Harlan Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge.

Dallas Center-Grimes punched their ticket to the semifinals by knocking off Fairfield in a thrilling 1-0 game in 12 innings. DCG scored an unearned run off an error in the bottom of the 12th to get the win, and send Fairfield home in heartbreaking fashion.

We’ll keep posting updates from the state softball tournament as the week moves on KBOE and KMZN.

The Oskaloosa Indians have put themselves in a great position following a nice 6-2 win over Chariton Monday night.

Oskaloosa used timely hits and good plate approaches to scratch across two runs in each the second and the third inning to take an early 4-0 off of Charger left-hander Charlie Palmer. A couple of insurance runs were added, and Chariton would score a couple of unearned runs in the sixth, but it was Osky’s night, as they win the District 12 Championship and will play Pella Wednesday for a chance to go to the state tournament.

That game will be played in Pella, which is one of five locations in the eight substate games in Class 3A that will be hosted by one of the participating teams. You can hear that game live on the Mahaska Zone Network, 99.5 FM and AM 740 KMZN and on kboeradio.com, with our pregame starting around 6:45 for the 7 PM first pitch.

Pella is 3-0 against Oskaloosa this year, and in the lone game in Pella between the two teams, the Little Dutch got a 10-0 run-rule victory. Pella is ranked #1 in the state in Class 3A, but rankings haven’t meant much in the postseason in either summer sport.

After an incredible amount of upsets and near upsets in softball, baseball has also lived up to that billing. Only five ranked teams remain in the Class 3A bracket, and another top five team will go down as #2 Waverly-Shell Rock is paired against #4 West Delaware in the substate round. #3 Gilbert, #5 Knoxville, #6 Davenport Assumption, #8 Spirit Lake, and #10 Saydel have all bowed out prior to the Round of 16.

Oskaloosa will attempt to put Pella on that list with their game on Wednesday night. Pella got into that game by virtue of their 3-0 win over Fairfield last night in Fairfield. The game was called after five innings because of a rainstorm that just missed Oskaloosa to the south. The field in Fairfield couldn’t hold the water, and since the game had reached an official length, it was decided to call the game, despite the tight score.

The other game in the area on Monday night was the Ottumwa Bulldogs against Iowa City West in Class 4A Substate 6. Ottumwa got off to a good start grabbing an early 2-0 lead, but West roared back, scoring 11 unanswered runs and eventually getting the win 14-7 after Ottumwa tried desperately to rally. Iowa City West now faces #5 Cedar Rapids Prairie with a chance to go to the state tournament on Wednesday. Ottumwa’s season ends with a record of 25-16.

Tonight, Class 1A and 2A will determine their state tournament participants. In the lone area game, Davis County will look to punch their ticket to the state tournament against Des Moines Christian. The Mustangs are four years removed from their lone state championship back in 2011, and three years removed from their last appearance in Principal Park for the state tournament. Davis County is 24-7 this year, and will head into their game with Des Moines Christian tonight a slight underdog. DMC is the first team on the watchlist in the final rankings. That game is being played tonight at 7 PM in Indianola.