Not even a 90-minute rain delay could slow down the Valley softball team’s impressive march to the Class 5A championship game.
The top-ranked Tigers overcame a brief thunderstorm in the top of the third inning to beat No. 9 Ankeny, 8-1, in the semifinals of the state tournament on Wednesday at Harlan Rogers Park in Fort Dodge.
“They’re a good hitting team,” said Ankeny coach Dave Bingham. “I thought Abby (Rusher) threw well. In the game of softball you’ve got to be really routine, and we weren’t routine on a few plays and that kind of gave them some momentum. I think that happened the first time we played them. Sometimes, that catches up to you.”
Valley (38-4) pounded out 10 hits and capitalized on three Ankeny errors to extend its winning streak to 25 games. The Tigers will play No. 2 Pleasant Valley (39-3) in Thursday’s championship game at 5 p.m.
Mackenzie Mohler led the way, going 2-for-3 with a home run and five RBIs. Ireland Broderick also homered for the Tigers.
“It feels really good,” said Mohler. “We worked so hard for this moment, and I’m just so glad that we got to be able to do what we can do.”
Ankeny (22-21) was seeking its 14th state championship. The Hawkettes will now play No. 11 Urbandale (23-19) in the third-place game on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
“It’s one last chance to play together,” said senior outfielder Hannah Howard. “We’re just looking forward to that opportunity.”
Rusher (15-11) took the loss in Wednesday’s game, allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits while recording a pair of strikeouts. She provided Ankeny’s lone run with a one-out homer in the fourth off Alexa Stevermer (21-1), who tossed a seven-hitter.
It was Rusher’s first home run of the season.
“We just didn’t get it turned on with our offense today, but it happens,” said Ankeny outfielder Avery Nelson. “(Valley’s) offense was going and going, and they took advantage of our errors, too.”
The Tigers had swept a doubleheader at Ankeny on July 1. It didn’t take long for them to grab control of Wednesday’s game.
Broderick led off the bottom of the first with a single and stole second. She went to third on a bunt by Kari Rose and raced home when the throw to first from Ankeny third baseman Kaylyn Miller got away for an error.
“We felt fully confident the whole way,” Howard said. “Obviously, we had played them before, and it’s tough to beat a team three times. We knew that going in, and we brought a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence. It just didn’t go our way today.”
The game was halted after Rusher retired Stevermer after a long battle on a grounder to short to end the second inning.
“During the delay, we had some fun in the dugout just trying to keep the energy up,” said Ankeny first baseman Aubrey Lensmeyer. “Then we went in a little shed and were just chillin’ and having fun. I don’t think the rain delay affected us at all. It’s no excuse. We knew it could happen, and we were ready for it.”
When play resumed, Ankeny had a chance to take the lead when a pair of singles by Morgan Fisher and Miller put runners at second and third with two outs in the top of the third. But Stevermer then retired Lensmeyer on an infield pop fly to end the threat.
“We knew she threw pretty much low and outside,” Lensmeyer said. “She’d come in and up late in the count at times, but we knew we could hammer her. We just didn’t do it today.”
Broderick hit a one-out double in the bottom of the inning and scored on a single by Rose. Mohler later blooped a two-run single to right field to increase the lead to 4-0.
Bingham doubted that the rain delay had an effect on Rusher’s pitching.
“You never know,” he said. “You could go back to watch the film to evaluate that, but I don’t think the rain delay bothered either team. We were both kind of the same.”
After Rusher’s home run cut Valley’s lead to 4-1, Ankeny had a chance to pull even closer in the fifth. The Hawkettes put two runners on with two outs before Ava Tomlinson lined back to Stevermer to end the inning.
“We had runners on every time,” Bingham said. “We planned on scoring seven runs, and if we had gotten some of those big hits early, it could have changed the momentum. But we never made them uncomfortable.”
Valley then sealed the victory when Mohler hit a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the inning. It was her 11th homer of the season.
With first base open, Mohler thought the Hawkettes would intentionally walk her. But they pitched to her instead.
“Obviously, we didn’t start out (the season) how we wanted to,” said Mohler, who is now 5-for-7 with two homers, two doubles and nine RBIs in the tournament. “But we’re playing our best softball now, which is what the goal was for the end of the year. We’ve just worked really hard.”
Broderick, who went 3-for-4 and scored three times, punctuated Valley’s win with a two-out homer in the sixth. It was her first home run of the season.
“It was a tough one because we wanted it,” Bingham said. “We had some youth out there, and we had some plays that we didn’t make. But they hit the ball hard, and we’ve got to tip our hat to them.”
Nelson nearly matched Broderick with a one-out double in the seventh. Her blast to left field almost left the park.
“(Stevermer) threw me two balls, and I knew she was going to be coming in with a strike,” Nelson said. “I barreled her up a couple of times earlier this season, so I just swung away and tried to do what I could for my team.”
Unfortunately, Nelson was left stranded as Valley moved one win away from capturing its eighth state title and its seventh under Bakey. The Tigers are dominating the tournament like CIML Conference rival Ankeny Centennial did a year ago, when the Jaguars outscored their three opponents by a 29-2 margin.
Centennial also played Pleasant Valley in the title game.
“A good mindset and lots of confidence is what we’re going to need,” Mohler said. “It doesn’t matter who we play. It matters how we play.”
Miller went 2-for-3 for the Hawkettes, who will play their fourth straight postseason game against a conference rival in the consolation final. Urbandale fell to Pleasant Valley, 4-2, in the other semifinal game.
The two teams split a doubleheader on June 6.
“I wish it was a double-elimination (tournament),” Bingham said. “But at least we get to play another game.”
