Class 1A — Clarksville vs. Edgewood-Colesburg

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The Floyd of Rosedale. It's a Fort Dodge staple. So is something about a mile north. The state championship softball diamonds at Harlan Rogers Park. It's the last day of the 2026 state softball championship. Last night, two trophies found new owners going to Grandview Christian and ADM. Today, three more trophies will go home. It's the last day of the 2026 season. It's number eight. The Edgewood-Colesburg Vikings and the two seeded Clarksville Indians doing battle today in this one, a championship. The Indians going for back to back here. And let's see how it unfolds as this beautiful afternoon unfolds along with Laura Leonard. I'm Paul Yeager glad to have you here. We're behind home plate and Laura, there's been a lot of action on this diamond. Well, all diamonds, five diamonds, a whole lot of playing. But one of these two teams didn't have to play as much as the other because they took care of business right away. Edco comes into this contest, Laura. They've won three in a row. They're looking for four now. How do they do it?

Well, they just rely on their pitching and their defense and do what they have done to get them to this point. And then for Clarksville, they have played a lot of innings. They have played over 40 innings to get to this point, but they are the defending champ looking to make another one.

Clarksville beat North Butler on Monday night, 15 innings and then they played another one. That was 11. It's Edgewood-Colesburg fifth trip to state two of the last three years. They're almost veterans now and it starts in the circle.

It really does. And Rachel Eglseder is one of the best pitchers in the state. She has been locked down so far here in this tournament. And she's getting some help at the plate with Faith Dugan.

Oh, she's incredibly fast. We'll talk about her track speed in a little bit. And then for Clarksville eighth trip to state, they are the defending champions.

Yeah, they really are. They do have the experience, yet they're still very young. This team is very young, but they do have some experience in the circle with Sydney Lovrien, and I'm surprised her arm has not fallen off because she has thrown a lot of innings here in this tournament.

Well, somebody who's warmed up is our public address. Announcer, Tim Fitzpatrick, to let us have the introductions of the two teams.

Good afternoon, softball fans, and welcome to Rogers Sports Complex in Channel Field for this one. A championship game between the Vikings of Edgewood Colesburg. And the Indians of Clarksville.

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All right, it's time to meet our teams. First of all, for the visitors from Edgewood Colesburg. Here are your Nonstarters number seven, Ellie Meyer. Number nine, Jenna Hamann. Number 12. Eden Hemann. Number 17. Macy Bailey. Number 20. Faith Kirby. Number 21. Josie Diers. Number 23. Kalyssa Reimer. Your assistant coaches Brooks Eglseder. Now here's your starting lineup for the Vikings of Edgewood-Colesburg leading off playing shortstop. Number eight Faith Dugan batting second in left field. Number four Ava Hoefer batting third, doing the pitching. Number 25, Rachel Eglseder, clean up hitter for the Vikings at catcher number six McKenna Hoefer batting fifth at first base. Number ten Lauren Kirby batting six, playing second base. Number 11 Eddie Schmelzer batting seventh. The designated player number five Chloe Everett batting eighth in right field. Number one. Kara Knipper batting in the ninth position in center field. Number two Avery Brown.

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And your flex player at third base. Number three, Eva Vaske. Head coach for the Vikings. Taylor Huber.

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And now let's meet the home team from Clarksville. Here are your Nonstarters. Number one Emma Hovenga. Number four Lizzie Kramer. Number five Ava Johnson number seven. Emersyn Miller. Number 11. Sophie Guzman, number 13. Bailey Jordan. Number 15. Paige Kampman. Number 17. Abby Schmidt. Number 22. Peyton Stevens. Number 24 Kaybrie Lovrien. Your assistant coaches. Dylan Edeker and Michaela Holub. And now here's your starting lineup for the Indians of Clarksville leading off doing the catching number eight, Kate Lodge batting second in left field. Number 14 Reagan Wedeking batting third at shortstop. Number six Hannah Wangsness clean up hitter for the Indians at first base. Number 26 Kara Bohlen batting fifth, doing the pitching. Number nine Sydney Lovrien batting sixth in center field. Number 23 Brooke Bohlen batting seventh. The designated player. Number 25. Gia Hoodjer batting eighth in right field. Number 12. Mykah Hall embedding in the ninth position at third base. Number 16. Eve Jordan and your flex player at second base. Number 18. Capri Clark head coach for the Indians, Katie Burman.

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And now, fans, if you please, turn your attention to the home plate area, the umpires assigned to this championship contest by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union are at first base. Tom Sullivan at third base. Mike Kerr and calling the balls and strikes today Mr. Jason Slater and now fans at this time, please face the flag in the center of the complex as we honor the many veterans who so proudly served the men and women across the world who protect our freedom each and every day. And this great country that we've called home for 250 years. Here is our national anthem.

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Thank you. All right. Who's ready to win a state championship?

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Well, there's who's playing today. The edge would Colesburg Vikings and they are going to be your visitors. So that means Clarksville is in the field first. Wedeking Bohlen and Hall left to right. Eve Jordan, who had the game winning hit Monday night, is at third. Wangsness at short. Capri Clark at second. In the first base person is Kara Bohlen. Kate Lodge behind the plate and the pitcher for Clarksville on last year's all team Sydney Lovrien. She has thrown north of 500 pitches in this tournament at Laura that's a lot.

That's a lot of pitches. And you know what? She never looks like she's tired. She just continues to throw. She hits her spots and she keeps her team in it.

So we had a chance to talk to Sydney Lovrien after the games Wednesday night to qualify. And there's her record 23 and seven with an ERA of 2.32. Only walked 70, struck out 166 and hits allowed 151. She's had she's actually given up 42 hits here in the tournament this week in these first few games.

Yeah, they're still here in the championship game. So the defense is working very hard behind her. They're getting out. She changes speeds. She mixes her pitches lets the defense do the work.

Faith Dugan Ava Hoefer and Rachel Eglseder, the pitcher for Edco. That's 123. Then it's Hoefer Kirby Schmelzer Everett Knipper and Brown round out the lineup for Taylor Huber, who is in her fourth season. There's a look at Brooks Eglseder. He is the first base coach. And also. And there's Taylor Huber. And what are your keys for this contest here, Laura?

Well, for Edco, what they need to be as sharp on defense. You can't afford any kind of errors in a championship game. And they need production top to bottom. They've got to have everybody contributing and then Clarksville what? We're tired. No way we're going to go after this championship. They've played 40 innings and then they have to have smart at bats. They're going against a very tough pitcher, and she does a great job of moving the ball around, working different locations. And she will strike you out if you aren't smart at the plate.

First pitch to Faith Dugan is a ball. So is the second Dugan from the right side. She's playing short today, a five hitter driven in 41 runs. She's also scored 58 times because she is on base a lot, and that's what you need your top lineup to do. As Dugan now is up three zero. Here to start things off with Lovrien.

Well, they've continued to stay on the outer part of the plate, have not quite found the zone of the home plate. Umpire Jason Slater.

And that first pitch on three zero is a strike. And first pitch came at 241 on Friday, July the 24th, 2026 class one a state championship here from Fort Dodge. The three one is grounded up the middle, over towards Wangsness, across to first.

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Not in time.

There's that speed hustling down the first base line. I think Lovrien maybe got a little piece of that ball as it came back up the middle, maybe slowed it down just a little bit, and Wangsness didn't really have a chance to try to throw out Dugan.

The Vikings were state champions for track this year, and she was a key part of that team. She anchored the four by one, which been a second. She goes to Steil on the first pitch, and she's there in the blink of an eye. She also was the anchor in their four by two, so that speed is absolutely key as she's now in scoring positions on this stolen base.

We've seen a lot of players here in this tournament as she uproots second base. She went in pretty darn hard and a lot of momentum behind her. But we've seen a lot of these players that do have track experience.

Bunt is down by Hoefer, fielded by Lovrien, and it's across to first. For the out, but it moves Dugan into to third now. Hoefer lets the team know she's in their corner with the sacrifice.

, and that's exactly how you do it. You manufacture some runs, you move those runners along, you get the stolen base, you use the sacrifice. Now you have several opportunities to try to get the first run.

Eglseder takes the first pitch she sees and punches it into right field for a base hit. Edco takes the early lead one nothing.

And just that quick. And I think it goes back to the top of the order. You get that leadoff player on with the speed. They have a lot of options of what they can do, and you can see infield pulled in that line drive just over the top of the outstretched glove of Clark.

And that is a already a courtesy runner coming on. And it is going to be.

A 21 courtesy.

Josie Diers.

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Step out.

See if they try it again. See if they try to to move the runner up.

Now batting is McKenna Hoefer, the senior catcher. First pitch strike from Lovrien one. Nothing Edco here in the first. Pitch up the middle and that's going to get through. But not very far. Well, actually I shouldn't speak. Diers goes to third on the throw and I think the ball hit her and she is down at third. That ball came in Jordan not able to glove it. It hit Mike Diers probably right in that lower back. That's what she's holding. And you see Coach Taylor Huber.

Yeah she can courtesy run multiple times.

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You could have multiple courtesy runners.

Are you going to be fine? For sure. Okay. I do have a different courtesy for her while they're doing that.

So we have one courtesy runner and you can swap it out because if Diers is hurt, you're going to have to take her out. There's a look up the middle, just right underneath the glove of Lovrien.

Courtesy.

And then misplayed out in center field by Bohlen. And that ball came and got it right on the backside.

And Bertch gets it and comes straight back.

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Okay, here we go.

And there's a little listening in on Taylor Huber talking to Diers. There's a look at Bertch, who comes in as the courtesy for McKenna Hoefer now batting is Lauren Kirby. And Edco is threatening to deliver a one heck of a haymaker to start. That first pitch spins in for a strike. Great looking throw from CID.

They do have the infield drawn in. They. They get that ground ball. They're going to check that runner over at third, try to get the out or get her. If she's going on contact.

There. They see coming in just on the corner and Lovrien expecting maybe a bunt through that one outside. Making it tough to get down. So let's see what Lauren Kirby does here against Lovrien one in already here in the first pitch is swung through and missed for strike two.

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That's what Clarksville needs right now. They need a big strikeout or a pop up there in a big jam. They've been in a big jam all week long, though they have gotten behind, been able to battle back and that's why they are here in this championship game.

They've also had big leads that have slipped away as well. So I think Clarksville is comfortable with either side of the ledger.

I agree, I think that they just kind of go, well, okay, here we go again. And the week that they've had, I think that's the only mindset that you can have.

The one two is fouled out of play over our right side where the Edco fans are at coming from Edgewood and Colesburg, which was in Delaware and Clayton counties. Edgewood Edgewood actually sits on the county line. So draw a line north out of Manchester and maybe northwest out of Dubuque. That pitch goes high. In the Tri-rivers conference, Clarksville about 84 miles away, due west. Clarksville more west than north of Waverly, just off of highway three. So highway three kind of the connector of these two swing and a miss and Kirby is out on strikes. That's the second out.

Lovrien took a little off that pitch. She'd been going up in the zone most of that at bat comes in outer part of the plate, and you can see that Kirby had to reach out to even try to get a piece of it.

Let's see what Lovrien does here against Addi Schmelzer. That pitch is fouled off for strike number one.

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The first two home runs ever included.

He can back up the defense now with two out here in this first inning.

Schmelzer looks at another one.

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And this time it's another strike oh two for the sophomore.

She's got a little pop in her bat, so if she can go with the pitch, there's a pretty big gap out there in right center field.

The oh two misses three hits already for the Vikings and Gray.

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One ball.

We'll talk about Lovrien and some of her activities as the afternoon rolls on. That zero two or that one two is another strikeout. Second strike out of the inning ends the inning, but not before Edgewood gets one. They threaten with a little bit more.

Thank you.

Another pitch. Kind of the same location as the last strikeout on the outer edge up in the zone. And she is just continually dug down a little deeper when they've gotten in jams to get big outs.

There's a look at Lovrien and the Indians as they come up to bat. We'll show you their lineup in just a minute. But first, let's take a look at the defense for Edco, who has a run lead. Knipper and right Brown in center and Hoefer is in left at first. Lauren Kirby Addi. Schmelzer at second. Faith Dugan, who scored the game's first run as it's short and Eva Vaske at third. McKenna Hoefer behind the plate and in the circle. The senior Rachel Eglseder. She hasn't had to work. She's got that that sleeve on her arm. But yes, it was warm. It was 116 degrees. Feels like temperature on Monday. Laura maybe have been 95, but she hasn't had to throw a lot today or this week.

No not really. I mean, she's been very efficient. So is her team. And when they've been able to get the lead, you know and they've got that one run lead, she's pretty tough to come back on.

She's got a chance now. And this is the lineup that she'll face for Clarksville. Leading it off will be Kate Lodge. Then Reagan Wedeking and Hannah Wangsness will show you that lineup in just a moment. Because I talked over the opportunity window that we had not the first time. I'll do that today. First pitch is a ball. Lodge on the season, a 475 hitter, Kate the catcher. I love it when the catcher leads off. We'll see it. We've seen it over the years here Laura and but but let's talk about Lodge for a minute. She's a freshman. She's just been outstanding in her first two years of high school softball.

Well she has and how about this tournament? She's 11 of 22 in the tournament. One of the hottest bats here all week long. And she's not your typical looking like catcher. She's small. She's a lefty. And she.

Pulls that one to short or to second for the out.

And she's got some pop in her bat too. She can swing it pretty well and has speed. Just got on top of that and pounded it down into the ground.

So Schmelzer goes to Kirby for the out. Here's the order for Clarksville. Lodge leads things off. Reagan Wedeking getting ready to bat now and then it'll be Hannah Wangsness Kara Bohlen Sydney Lovrien Brooke Bohlen Gia Hoodjer. Mykah Hall. And then Eve Jordan is your lineup for. Clarksville. So. Wedeking playing left an eighth grader. Here's the thing about Clarksville. Laura. We saw them in the championship game this year. Not a lot of notes to pull from last year because it's six new players.

Yeah, they they had some players that have come back and did lose some big ones from last year's championship team. They are young, but a little experience with some of these players as well. And so I think this team was just determined that they wanted to be able to prove themselves and say, yeah, we can do it. After we lost some quality talent off of last year's team, they want to go back to back.

Eglseder looks at her wrist for the play call. The two one pitch change up is lifted foul and out of play towards the concession stand. Two hour right.

Eglseder you're going to get all kinds of pitches. I asked her, I said, what are you throwing? She says, I throw them all. I throw them all. I've got a rise, a drop, a curve. Said, what's your best one? She likes her fastball. Her grandpa thinks that her rise ball is the best. I had a chance to stand next to him during one of their games.

And that rise ball is hit high into the sky. Hoefer comes in from left to make the grab. He. You and he are best friends now.

We are, we are. We spent a lot of time in their game to get to this game where they knocked off Elkhorn Kimballton. As we take a look at the lineup.

Lodge. Wedeking. Wangsness. Bohlen. Lovrien.

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Bohlen. Hoodjer. Hall and Jordan. Now batting is Hannah Wangsness. The shortstop. That one goes up and in.

You know, the opportunity to stand and talk to him was what state softball tournament is all about. I mean, the excitement and he is just so proud of his granddaughter and what she's done and the things that she's overcome, which I know we will talk about as this game goes on. But he we were high fiving. We were. And he was like, don't move. You got to stay here. You can't do anything different.

Oh yeah. The mojo. Yeah. Don't mess with that. That one goes up and in.

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On Wangsness. And now the count goes three and oh.

But you know, both of these communities. I mean, how much how much the towns and the surrounding towns have gotten behind both of these teams and have been the huge support for them where they've provided breakfast for them in the morning before they head up to Fort Dodge. All kinds of things that everybody is pitching in to be a big part of this experience.

It is something that we have seen now. I think this is our 13th year of covering the state softball tournament here in Iowa PBS, and I enjoy the conversations I know you do with the people that we get to meet, and everybody is so excited about their family. It's Kara Bohlen you see here in her 409 average with 29 runs batted in, and that pitch is off the plate. And I'm guessing most of the family can tell you all 29 of those runs driven in and what situation it was, and some fans have been there for every game. Some are just here for the state experience and that's what makes it great.

It is. It is certainly a big experience. I know it's something that people remember. Players remember, fans remember for a very long time, I never participated. We never got here in high school, but boy did I come up and watch and you just got to know players and know the teams that were very good. And and it was just fun to be able to watch this tournament evolve.

Eglseder fields, her position, throws it to second base to get the out. And that gets the Vikings out of the inning. And we mentioned that a lot of people have been playing this week. Well, let's explain what we mean by what has happened in this double elimination format.

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This year, the girls state softball tournament adopted a hybrid double elimination format leading up to the title game in round one, eight teams play in round two. The winners from round one play each other, while the losers do the same. Round three sees the loser between the round two winners play the winner of the round one. Losers who battled it out in round two in round four. The winner of the round two's winning teams takes on the winner of round three. But if the round two winner loses and both teams have one loss, the same teams play again in round five to determine who goes to the class title game. However, if they win, round five is not necessary and they automatically advance to the championship where the winner takes all.

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Makes sense.

Well done my friend.

Well done. No. Give credit to Josh Bittner, our producer on this segment there. And this is a look at the bracket. Zyra. JC Audubon was the number one seed into this tournament, but Edgewood-Colesburg beat them. And you see you had Edco. They never lost. But look at the bottom. Clarksville and Saint Ed's had to play both in round four and in Roh five, and they also played in round two.

Yeah, they saw Saint Ed's a lot and they were able to finally get over the hump and get here.

And let's also not forget Brant Willett, who did the work on that graphic as well, and gave us good feedback for that. Thank you to our truck from Iowa PBS as we get ready to go for the Vikings, it'll be Chloe Everett, Kara Knipper and Avery Brown 789 first pitch strike from Sydney Lovrien Chloe Everett, a 308 hitter. Just a consistent bat for this team. First pitch back up to or second pitch to Lovrien gloves it over, but with Bohlen had plenty of time to glove it. And that's out number one of the second.

A lot of balls being hit or going right back up the middle. So Lovrien has to be ready to field her position. She's had a couple of shots come right back at her, hasn't been able to get the glove down this time, able to knock it down a little off with the throw. But Mullin doing a good job of being able to stretch and pick that one up to get the out.

Capri Knipper to bat now with one away, takes the first pitch, pulls it to the left side. Gloving it is Jordan and hustles to get the out.

I thought that one almost spun at the last second to go foul, and Jordan picks that up, shows off her arm. Jordan just a sophomore over there, really playing very well defensively throughout this tournament.

So it's Avery Brown to bat and that first pitch comes in and Lovrien. This is one way to be efficient. She's threw one pitch to the first batter, 1 or 2 pitches to the first, one to the second, and only her second pitch coming to Brown here.

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They made her throw a fair amount in the first inning, and we have already talked about the number of innings she has on her arm throughout this tournament, and why not make her work? Why not make her throw a lot of pitches and they're trying to do that. Be smart at the plate, be selective.

And that's a swing and a miss to even it up at two balls and two strikes to Brown.

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.

Two strikes.

And sometimes when when you let her get into a groove, she's awfully tough. She just continues to get stronger throughout the innings.

Everybody is looking tough right now here in the second. Both bats go silent. Neither team able to push anything across and Rachel Eglseder will come back out into the circle. And back in November. Laura, I don't think we had any idea that this situation would unfold. Rachel Eglseder was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma back in November. She. You see her doctors from Stead Children's Hospital in Iowa City who. She beat cancer. Can you believe that? Laura.

What a great story and. And several things to tell you how. Everybody is there to help when things like this happen that you're. You've got community, you've got friends there by your side the entire time.

And that is actually her, her, you trip catcher is there from her. Right. And that's Hayden Kresser from Jessop. She was with her at every treatment. According to her father, Brooks, that she could make, which was a ton. They made a lot of trips to Iowa City from Edgewood South, but the Bellevue Marquette team that you saw there in the purple shirts, they honored her. The autographs for their players. It's just. But when you ask Rachel, you'd have no idea. She never missed a treatment, never missed a quarter, never missed a practice for basketball. A quarter of a game, came back and had an outstanding basketball season as well.

After her first treatment, she came back from that and promptly knocked down ten three pointers in the basketball game that night. So that that tells you a little bit about a person when they get that diagnosis, and they just have the mindset of, okay, I've got a challenge in front of me. This is how I'm going to beat it. And she has beat it every step, every turn has had a lot of help. As you had mentioned, Hayden Kresser, she, Hayden Kresser put together a Home Run derby and made bracelets and did all kinds of things to help kind of raise a little money to help with the trips back and forth for those treatments. And I think it was June 17th. Again, going back to the grandpa. Grandpa told me a lot of things, but June 17th.

And that's. And that is a look at some. That's Hayden Kresser right there. Her brother actually played for West Virginia this year in the College World Series. So a good ball family. They understand the importance of a.

Team right. Oh yeah. And she's helping out there too. I think she's doing a little scouting on her own. Maybe communicating maybe down to the dugout. I don't know. I was going to say June 17th. Rachel was able to ring the bell and she is cancer free. So, you know, congratulations to all the people that helped her along that journey.

And there's Sydney Lovrien. She's pushed the count full now three and two. Thought maybe that was ball four, but she'll bat again. That one's hit to right. And it's going to be off the glove of the right fielder and into first. So Lovrien is aboard. On a hot shot out to right.

Well those are some of the things that we talked about. Be sharp on defense. That one Knipper out there and right. Just I don't know if she just closed her glove too quick. Couldn't see it. She's got the glasses on out there. It's kind of an overcast sky. Maybe tough to pick that ball up.

Thank you.

Emersyn Miller running for Clarksville is Emersyn Miller. Seven on the courtesy for Sydney Lovrien.

She's quick over there. She's smart about running bases. And when you know what your role is, when you're coming in and you're a courtesy runner, a pinch runner, whatever it might be, you have to understand the base running game and you have to be smart about it and look at defenses, see how they're playing, what's the rotation of the infielders, how they're pitching the batter. There's a lot of things that you have to pick up on when you're a base runner. You're not just going in there to run those bases.

That pitch is offered at by Bohlen. So she is now even at a ball and a strike, a 348 hitter scored 25 runs this season for her team. One ball, one strike. Nobody out here in the second gets the bunt down, fielded by Vaske throw across to Schmelzer as Kirby had crashed. So again, the. We'll play on to get the out, but Bohlen gets the bat down and the job done.

That's what you need to do when you get that lead. Lead off. Runner on early in the ball game, you're down one. Try to get that runner into scoring position. Give yourself a couple of chances to try to knock that runner in and tie it up.

It's now up to Gia Hoodjer. The designated player freshman bats from the left side. First pitch is a strike, according to Jason Slater. 385 hitter in that spot, a freshman. So you have one back to back freshman in the lineup, three total for coach Burman squad. She has two eighth graders in the lineup as the appeal down to third no swing, says Mike Kerr. And let's give Tom Sullivan a shout out. He's the first base umpire.

Boy, these guys have done a lot of work all week long. So many more games.

Hit to left.

Off the glove.

Of the left fielder. It's going to roll around and we're going to be tied here. Two errors have led to Clarksville tying this game.

Almost feel like that was a knuckler going out to left field and Hoefer out there. Thought she had it. And then it just kind of sails over her glove all the way to the wall, and they are able to send that runner in Miller, who gets the first run for Clarksville.

So Hoodjer gets the job done to drive the run home to tie us up at one here in the bottom of the second. It'll be Mykah Hall she shows.

But.

And offers strike one.

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You know you have a team rattled. They gave up that run, so why not? Why not put that ball in play? Make them throw it. Make them make that play. They had a couple of miscues out in the outfield on that last hit.

Look out Eve Jordan. As you get a nice little smile from Mykah Hall as she is smiling about it.

That's why you wear the helmets over there. That's that's why you pay attention in that on deck circle, because balls come flying at you.

Hall awaits. Hit in the air on the infield, and that is a catch made by Schmelzer. For out number two.

Couldn't get on top of that rise ball and just popped it straight up in the air.

Speaking of the air, it has gotten cooler here and all of a sudden the wind has kicked up just a little bit more. It's gusting 11 to 18 at first pitch. You see if you can get something up in the jet stream, that one's high. Not going to be easy as Vaske four feet to the right of the bag makes it look easy. Like, I don't know what I'm talking about and that's okay. However, Clarksville gets a run across in their half of the second to tie it up at one. Well, we talked about one pitcher. Another one's had a pretty good season as well. As Edco goes into their huddle as they have to kind of flush this, a couple of these at bats. But let's look at Sydney Lovrien in slow motion.

She gets a lot of drive off of that rubber. And you can see the power and how she turns that ball over trying to get it to spin. And she can. We talked about it. She can change speed. She can move locations. She can spin the ball and just has had an outstanding season. Reached over 500 strikeouts this year and is continuing to pile those up.

You know what else she can do? She can show animals that the Butler County Fair.

Yeah, she sure can. She's a.

For her. And she showed Pepe. That's her at the Iowa County Spring thaw. And then you're also going to see Pepe at the Butler County Fair when she was reserve champion with her short horn. Plus, she's going to go to the state fair in the FFA show. And super excited. There's a look at her dad. You talk about family. While you were talking to the Edco families, I was talking to the Clarksville families and Sid is excited. Busy gal, six different sports, volleyball, wrestling, basketball, golf, softball. That one's hit in the air towards center and it's over the head and it's into the stands for a home run for Edco. Just like that. Faith Dugan touch em all.

Was able to level off the swing. That ball was up in the zone. That was letter high. She was able to go up and get that and just barreled it up, sent it straight to dead center field to give them that lead back.

Huge play right there to set the tone.

Yeah, you kind of feel like coming into this inning that the momentum had gone over to that Clarksville dugout. But Edco is able to wrestle it back with one swing of the bat, one pitch here in this inning.

So now it's Ava Hoefer. Last at bat, she had the sacrifice. So now she swings away with the bases clear and a run in already. Two one Edco. That pitch is fouled back behind us to the right. We talked about the win. I just didn't think it was going to pay off so quickly. I was going to set up a tease for our five A game. When ball blowing out, we're going to have ourselves a home run derby tonight, possibly.

Maybe. That was a little promo right there of things yet to come. We've got two more after this one with some good hitting teams and power hitting teams.

Hoefer the pitch from Lovrien hit in the air towards right side of the infield underneath it. Making the grab is Clark and that thing almost popped out of her hand.

Just got underneath that pitch and popped it straight up. We've seen that from both pitchers using that rise ball very well and very effectively.

An RBI single her first time up.

Rachel Eglseder trying to help herself out here, takes the first pitch and pulls it to Jordan gloves it across at third to first out.

[APPLAUSE]

Number two.

[APPLAUSE]

They're going after the first pitch. They're trying to be aggressive, try to get on Lovrien before she can start mixing things up.

McKenna Hoefer, the catcher. She had a hit in her last at bat, steps in here, takes a first pitch swing, and it's on a tough Change-Up, swings through it to fall behind one for one with the single today. Four hits already for the Vikings. That one's hit in the air towards right. It's heading towards the dugout and just not enough room for Lodge to chase it down. Kate Zings it back. That chest protector is not even big enough for her. You talked about her size earlier, but you. I don't think she needs it. She's so tough that just watching her any. I mean, you think about Monday, I mean, I, I glossed over it a little bit as a joke. It was 95 degrees Monday felt like 115, 118 for a time. And it just yes, there was a breeze as there's the home run ball that's delivered to Faith Dugan family by Aaron Gerlach will have a chance to talk to Aaron later on tonight. That pitch is fouled off of Hoefer.

What a great tradition that has become here at the state tournament to hand the home run balls back to the family. I think they all enjoy that. Going back to Lodge and we talked to to Lovrien and Lodge as well, and Lodge calls all the pitches. There is no communication with the dugout. She and Sydney Lovrien have are on the same wavelength. They know what they want to do. They sit down before a game, kind of go through the lineup after they've gone through the lineup. Once they sit together and they talk about what they need to do and Lovrien said she knows exactly what I want to throw. I mean, she she's in my head and knows exactly what we need to do to get the outs.

You were excited when you saw that.

Oh, I'm so excited. I ground ball hit and.

That's going to get through. Hoefer is going to reach with a two out single Clark just not able to get a glove there because that thing was moving on. A bullet, a fast moving train there. Clarksville now has to figure out a way to get out of this inning with a two out base hit.

Again, another one right back up the middle. Edco is doing a great job of staying in and then driving the ball right back to center field.

Bertch again comes down to run. Her Faith Kirby sorry.

His first time up.

First pitch. Yeah, I get excited when I see a catcher calls their own game.

Sorry. So yeah, let me finish that. So Laura and I were sitting at the. We were watching game three of the three game series between Fort Dodge Saints and Clarksville on Wednesday night, and the oh one. You look to me and you go and Kirby is going to scoot down to second on the pass ball and you're like, I think Kate's not calling. I think she's not looking at anybody and calling her own pitches. And yes, we have pitch Qom, we have watches, we have various ways of technology. She's already flashed what her pitch is going to be.

And I think and she's young. Think about that. I mean, sometimes they let some of the older players, the seniors that have maybe had a tandem that have played together for a long time, and sometimes coaches will say, all right, you guys know what you need to do. But she's young and and really understands the game so well. And understands what they need to do to get out of an inning, what pitch to call. And she has just done a masterful job throughout this tournament throughout her career.

You mean like a good old drop Vikings push one across with a home run by Dugan?

Our normal game is that it takes us one time through the batting lineup and we're all the way through. Okay, so we've all seen her. No more pop ups. Okay? The spin is is making us pop it up. Okay, so get it. Hit it in front of the plate, get on top of the ball.

[LAUGHTER]

Let's do it.

Let's go.

[APPLAUSE]

We can.

[LAUGHTER]

Add something else.

[LAUGHTER]

Let's go.

[LAUGHTER]

Let's go.

[LAUGHTER]

Well, there's a back look at Lovrien as she was listening to Coach Burman. But here we're now going to see Rachel Eglseder in slow motion.

Great extension as well. And these pitchers get so much power and drive off the rubber. And as I said earlier, we asked her what kind of pitches does she throw? And she throws them all. She can throw the drop and the rise and the curve, and she can pinpoint it to the catcher will put her glove up. She will hit the glove no matter where it is. She's that good with location.

We know many of you are watching from all over the world because you don't miss a minute of today's action, because you're watching our live stream on YouTube or as well online at iowapbs.org. So if you want to watch it again and again and again, there's the option, head to our YouTube page. First, pitch up the middle and it's going to go all the way to the wall for Kate Lodge. She digs in for a double, makes it look easy, smacks that one and it's a lead off double for the Indians.

So you heard Coach Berman say in the huddle, stay off the high stuff or get on top of it. Get it out front. And you know, not only is Kate Lodge smart behind the plate, she's coachable. So she went right up there and knocked that ball into the gap.

And I think she's on the scoreboard. They just had her on the scoreboard out there from last year. I think that was her. That first pitch to Reagan Wedeking is high from Eglseder and Lodge again, let's talk. Let's rave on her a little bit more. Doesn't use the courtesy. Runner has the good speed to get around the bases. We'll see that later today. Sophia Slater, the pitcher for Waukee Northwest. She runs the bases. She doesn't need no stinkin courtesy runner.

Yeah, I think it just depends on who the athlete is and what situations are and what you need during that moment of the ball game. Do you need a little more speed? Sometimes, and you might see those players come out, or how smart are they running the bases? And you have to take that into consideration as well.

So freshman with the double, the eighth grader with the at bat now and a one one pitch, pulls the bat back. Does Wedeking the second cousin of head coach Katie Burman Wedeking, flew out back in the first. We've got relatives here in the one A game. We'll have relatives throughout, which is fun. Bunt is shown again on. That one's fouled off and it will be two balls and two strikes.

Coach is just saying I'm going to take. Probably going to take the bunt off now with two strikes. Got to level that bat up and try to just lay it down. You've got a runner out there with nobody out. Got to do everything you can to move that run over to third.

And that's a called third strike as it backs up on Wedeking great looking pitch from Eglseder.

There's a really good pitch in the location in on the inner part of the plate, and there was just a little smile from Eglseder. You could see it through her mask. She knew exactly where she was going to throw that and she hit the spot.

Gets her first strikeout here in the third. The pitch to Hannah Wangsness is a called strike. Wangsness, who reached with a walk in the first bats here in the top of or the bottom of the third. Two one Edco. He lifted foul and out of play in two. Burman blue shirt boys. They were wearing the blue shirts and they were pretty excited and enthusiastic to sit in front of the other night and I said, hey, you guys got names? Oh, we don't have a name. I'm like, oh, come on, you have to have a name. I said, find me before the game and before we left the park that night, they had already come

Up and and giving us.

The name.

And then they double checked before we left. Now, did you get that name down so you can get us on and and you wrote it down right away. And they were excited. And boy, were they very supportive in that ball game as well.

Ball gets away and Hoefer there's finally somebody covering the plate and sprinting in was Vaske. Because I don't think McKenna Hoefer knew where it was right away.

No, she could not locate that. And I don't know if anybody else could, because usually somebody is pointing, yelling out where it is. And that was a disaster averted, I think.

Absolutely.

Because Lodge was looking she knew where it was, didn't know how much time she would have to get back.

That's ripped to left. That's going to

[APPLAUSE]

get down for a base hit.

[APPLAUSE]

Clarksville is going to tie the game. Digging for second is

[APPLAUSE]

Wangsness, the ball thrown in from Hoefer to Dugan and it's two two here in the third on an RBI single by the senior.

How about the answer here. And what a shot down the line gets all the way to the fence easily. Is able to score Lodge and Wangsness standing on second base and now trying to mount a little bit of a rally.

Two two here in the third. I knew we'd have a good one. It has lived up to the billing so far here in class one a up the middle Eglseder gloves. It throws quickly across to Kirby going to third will be Wangsness, and that'll make way for

[APPLAUSE]

Sydney Lovrien.

Smart move by Eglseder didn't even look at second. No need to try to get into that rundown where you might not be able to get that out, and you'd have runners on first and second or first and third. Go ahead and get that out and have confidence in your defense and confidence in what you can throw to get the out and get you out of the inning.

Lovrien trying to help herself with the at bat. Lovrien reached on the air, then her courtesy runner position scored, trying to find an open spot here. Tied at two and the go ahead run at

[APPLAUSE]

third.

[MUSIC]

Two balls and no strikes as Lovrien is ahead in the count, which is similar to her first at bat where she thought she had earned the walk. And then she swung the bat again and reached the base with an error. So that works out. It's the. That's the softball gods.

Yeah. Coming into to this ball game five for 16 in the

[APPLAUSE]

tournament. Getting some quality hits at

[APPLAUSE]

clutch times. She was just recently named all district

[APPLAUSE]

team.

[APPLAUSE]

The three zero is a

[APPLAUSE]

strike.

Now Eglseder has to dig down here. Doesn't want to put another runner on at the corners. And Lovrien knows she's going to get a pitch to hit.

That's another strike. This one a little more on the plate. That other one was on the corner. This one hit that nice little area on the outer third. So good movement by

[APPLAUSE]

Rachel. Crossed that 1000 career strikeout plateau this season. Looks to get one right here on three two. Ripped at short to end

[APPLAUSE]

the inning as Dugan comes in to make the grab of the soft liner. But not before we tie

[LAUGHTER]

things up again. Edghill and Clarksville. And you know, Monday night we talked about the 15 inning game. Well, that game also had meaning because it was the Butler County showdown. We mentioned families. This is a look at cousins. And there's a look to the left and look at to the right. It's Clarksville and North Butler. They're not separated by too far. But Sydney's dad is Ben Kaybrie Lovrien. Her dad is Knicks. So Ben and Nick are cousins. Willow Asher is for Butler in the north, Butler in the yellow. And then Emily's daughter who is for Clarksville, played 15 innings on Monday night. Willow is an eighth grader. There's a look after their game the other night as the cousins got to play each other. You had another cousin that's a coach so tough. You talk about grandparents. How do you pick in that situation? You can't lose, but you also feel like you can't win.

Yeah, yeah, it was tough. And we talked to some of the grandparents. And everybody. And that's all you can do. And and that again is, is what this is all about is the families that get involved. And everybody that comes to support these players is a pretty fun thing. And then when you see the family ties, it just makes it all that more special.

We move to the top of the. Fourth Addi Schmelzer Chloe Everett and Kara Knipper do up

[APPLAUSE]

for Edco, Schmelzer zero for one. Each team has put a run together when they've scored. Nobody scored in bunches

[LAUGHTER]

yet that pitch is lifted around first and it's going to drift towards second and Capri Clark is going to squeeze it for out. Number one.

Bohlen was looking up, going to camp underneath that one and then Clark called her off and she gave way. Clark certainly had the better angle to be able to pull that one in.

That'll make way for Chloe Everett. The designated player in a two two game here in the fourth. The pitch again. First pitch swinging, headed towards foul territory next to impossible. Over the shoulder catch by Bohlen attempted. That one was the degree of difficulty. There was a ten.

Or or more. That one was a tough one because you're running away from the play. You're trying to figure out how close am I to the fence trying to keep track of that one coming over your shoulder and these hitters continue to hit the ball over that way. They're a little slow. They need to get out in front. They've been going right back up the middle. Need to get that timing back down to make that contact and get the barrel on the ball.

Are these the shirts of these two teams? Are they fluorescent. You saw the the I don't know. Are those peach. Maybe or salmon. And then that aqua you saw those shirts stand by. When we just did the cutaway to the foul. The foul ball. Their fans are easy to spot.

They are. When I got here.

Look at those shirts.

Whole line of those shirts lined up to get into the ballpark.

Oh, you know what? There could be a special fan that was lined up. We'll tell you about that here in a little bit about how there might be a very significant fan. That came through the two two is chopped foul to the left side. Chloe Everett one for 3 or 1. She's zero for one with a groundout to the pitcher. In baseball score a softball scoring. That's 1 to 3.

And she's doing a good job of battling, fouling off

[LAUGHTER]

pitches.

And that one again lifted foul and out of play.

And that's all you can do. You just have to continue to work. And see if you

[LAUGHTER]

can find that pitch that you can drive and try to find a gap.

That one is hit up the middle and that's going to get through. And a one out single for Chloe Everett.

And that's a quality at bat there. As she worked and worked very hard with that at bat. Fouled things off. And then again right back up the middle. And that's kind of where they've been living all game long is right back to center field.

And there will be a runner for that'll be the flex will run for the DP. So that's Eva Vaske.

Flex

[LAUGHTER]

.

[LAUGHTER]

Flex.

The flex lifting of the flex. There's a look at Vaske who's playing third base today. And then Everett the designated player. There's a look at the dugout.

Vaske another one of those track runners.

She's off on the first pitch throw down. There was a good one from Lodge, but great speed

[APPLAUSE]

by Vaske.

I, I think. I think she's out. I think she left too quick.

And that is what the call is.

She got in there and throw. Was there. It was a little late but boy she got a good jump. There was a

[LAUGHTER]

reason why.

Great. Look at that tag attempt. And but that's because she was there early. So out. So that means that's a that's the caught stealing. So there's two away here. Now as the base runner is erased.

Two outs.

For

[LAUGHTER]

Kara Knipper first pitch is a strike.

You know those are the little things that as a coach you kind of go, oh, we just can't make those kinds of mistakes in a game like this. You have the speed on the base pass and they're going. When they do get those runners on, they're going to gamble. They're going to go after and try to take as many bases as they can. At times just a little too overanxious by Vaske got out ahead of Lovrien before she let go of that pitch.

That gets you

[APPLAUSE]

a little.

And that pitch misses on zero two, which makes it now

[APPLAUSE]

one, two.

[APPLAUSE]

The one two is popped up on the infield. Jordan gets her glove under to make

[APPLAUSE]

the out and one, two three. Go.

[APPLAUSE]

The Vikings in the game or in the the fourth inning frame. And that's a no score for Edco and we'll stay at that two two score. Taylor Huber is with us, the head coach for Edco coach. All right, let's discuss your pitch here first. What are you seeing in the circle that you like?

Yes. Doing a good job. Getting behind a little bit more than she usually does. But she's doing a great job battling. You know they're not calling the high pitch, which is fine. She's working her other stuff and they're hitting the ball hard. But they're going to start hitting it at us too. It'll be okay.

You know coach at the plate, your players seem to be right on it. Everything is right back up the middle. Is there something that you saw with Lovrien that you were able to attack?

Yeah, I mean, we're just trying to stay off her junk or high and or low and looking for belt high pitches. And that's what we're hitting hard. So we're just going to keep trying to do that.

Real coach real quick. Coach is your dad and his normal spot in center field. And does he look nervous?

No. He's actually behind behind the plate. But I picked him out. He does look nervous though.

I appreciate it thanks, coach. Thanks. Coach Taylor Huber, who was telling us about her dad and how he gets nervous. She gets nervous and she says it's way different. She played at Taylor Huber, played at Alburnett and now she's coaching and she says coaching is just way more nerve wracking than it is playing.

Oh, it always is, I think. And I've coached a little, not a lot, but certainly there's a lot more of emotion and you have to make all the decisions as a player. You just play.

Follow us on Facebook and ECS and use the hashtag Iowa PBS sports to enjoy high school sports with other fans as you can always stay connected with Iowa PBS no matter where you're at. So if you're watching on the on the beach somewhere, as you're getting ready to start your no contact week, dead week, maybe you're watching from the lake somewhere. Give us a shout out online. Brooke Bohlen. Gia Hoodjer and Mykah Hall do up for Clarksville in their half of the fourth and a two two game. And that pitch is fouled off by Bohlen, who had a

[LAUGHTER]

sacrifice bunt and her first at bat back in the second inning. As we're moving along here as a lot

[MUSIC]

of first pitch hits or swings and trying to put things in play. So Laura, you kind of talked about the aggression. And do you see that that one is chopped foul. Do you see that that is something that teams will do early, middle or late in a game in a state championship?

You know, I think it depends on the situation. And I think early on, I think if you want to get ahead of of what the pitcher, you don't want the pitcher to get ahead of you. So you try to go after that first pitch. If they get that first strike, then they kind of have the advantage because they can move the ball around the zone. And, and I think there's just certain times, momentum wise, you kind of have to read the game and figure out how you want to attack each at bat.

Bohlen weights here on the pitch, the one two from Eglseder, that one's right back at Rachel who throws over to first to Kirby again. Another ground ball up the middle out. A lot of hits. Laura have been going up the middle today. Some into center field, some being stopped by the pitcher, both sides.

And both sides. And both of these teams do such a great job of scouting one another and scouting teams that they're going to play. And, and as you're standing in that on deck circle, you try to pick up a few things and figure out what you're going to do and you're at bat. But defensively, these pitchers have done a nice job of trying to clog up that middle as the ball is going right back towards center field. Eglseder has done a great job. She's very quick with that glove, always ready to pounce on something that's coming her way.

Eglseder looks at her left. That one is hit back to her for out number two. Again. One, three goes the order. Rachel's dad Brooks, the assistant coach who's at first base coaching, is also the one who calls pitches. It's my understanding.

Yeah.

And how many times, Laura, over the years have we discussed with coaches about where's that conversation between parent and coach? And I think it's a little different when it's a pitcher involved and you're the one calling.

Yeah, I think you probably talk about it all the time. If you're at home, and I'm guessing that they probably look okay, who is our next opponent and what are we going to do? Look at this lineup. This this hitter is hitting this and she's got doubles and she's a home run hitter. How are we going to pitch her? And I think those conversations in that scenario, if your dad is calling the pitches and you're the pitcher, I think you're going to have those conversations a lot more than if you're a position player.

Hall punches the oh two in the left field for a base hit. That one was to the outside part of the plate. Hall just took it where it was for a two out single.

You're right. Just a great piece of hitting there. It was a good location on that pitch, but Hall able to make that adjustment, go down and get it and dump it. The opposite field.

So Eve Jordan bats from the right side. That pitch is up and out. Ball number one. There's a look at Brooks. Boy, that guy loves doing the game of softball and he's calling out the pitch right there. You could see the lips. That one's hit high in the air to left. It's heading back over. Up and out. Two run homer for Clarksville. It's their first lead of the game.

Again, a ball that was down in the zone and Jordan made that adjustment to go after that one. And drive it.

Jordan was the hero in game one against North Butler with a walk off single. Right now she's the goat for the Indians on this one. That just kept

[LAUGHTER]

going.

[LAUGHTER]

Here we go.

Home run and bottom part of the order to producing. And that's what you need to have. You've got to have everybody contributing top to bottom. We talked about that for Edco that they needed to have that kind of production top to bottom. Clarksville is starting to get that.

So Eglseder now pitches from the bottom side for two, and she faces the ever tough Kate Lodge.

[APPLAUSE]

Now you just have to forget about that one. You still have a lot of innings left. First time that Clarksville has gone up in this ball game. So as a team, Edco just needs to go. Let's get out of this inning. Let's get our bats back to the plate.

And it's to the left side and it's down for a base hit. It's going in into the corner. Digging is Lodge. Will she go for three? She rounds. It takes a couple of steps off and just is ready to

[APPLAUSE]

say I did that. A two out hit boy.

She picked up Coach Burman on the way around and they had thoughts about sending her to third, but quickly got the hold sign and she got back to

[APPLAUSE]

second base.

The home run, it was two Comebacker, Bohlen and Hoodjer both grounded out and now the two out rally

[APPLAUSE]

continues. For. Clarksville with Reagan Wedeking do up.

Good job by Hoefer to just go out and settle down. Her pitcher and try to get things calmed down. Get back in to that mindset. Get focused in. Hit your spots and try to get out of this

[LAUGHTER]

inning.

[LAUGHTER]

Wedeking takes a first pitch strike.

[APPLAUSE]

The oh one is inside up and in. I got to look that up because I was thinking about the same thing here about Jordan. She had the winning hit the other night, but that is only her second home run of the season.

Coming into the tournament, she had one.

She.

Had one, and I don't know if she's had any others.

She hasn't. She's had one extra base hit. She was five of 18, but. So hit number six was a. Biggie and so was hitting. So has hit one of those early five to win it.

So they have had contributions all over their lineup.

Wedeking grounds or fouls that one off. And Laura again I'm going to it's going to sound like a broken record. If you've watched us over the years and even from today, bottom part of the order sometimes is you need him to produce. But sometimes it's that bottom of the order that does the damage in a state championship game.

Yeah, we've seen it year in and year out where those players that you kind of expect that number nine hitter to be that player to get the ball in play, turn it over, get it back to the top where your power is. But now we've started seeing coaches put a little more speed, a little more pop, a little more power in at that nine spot. Not the traditional. Let's get the lineup turned over. Let's keep it rolling is kind of what those hitters have become in that nine spot.

Wedeking keeps falling off good pitches. That one was a great one that backed up and Wedeking able to get new life here. As Lodge retreats back to.

Second ball.

Wedeking bats here on a one two count, two outs here in the bottom of the fourth Clarksville for Edco two. That one misses

[APPLAUSE]

to even it up.

Eglseder struggling a little bit and she needs to kind of get things back into the right frame of mind and come back and dig down deep and get her team out of this one.

The eighth pitch of the at bat is

[APPLAUSE]

ball three.

[APPLAUSE] [MUSIC]

Two strikes

[APPLAUSE]

.

That one is fouled away. We'll do it again.

She has tried to go to that off speed to try to get the out. And Wedeking has been able to foul it off several times.

Two ball, two strikes.

[APPLAUSE]

Continually look to that dugout to try to find the right pitch.

And that pitch is punched into right going to get down and another run is going to score. Wheeling around and scoring is Lodge and it's five three Clarksville on an RBI single by

[APPLAUSE]

Reagan Wedeking.

And what about that at bat and just battling at the plate as Eglseder was throwing some really good pitches. She was spoiling them. Finally got a pitch that she could handle, took to right field to knock that run in.

On the 10th pitch of the at bat, Wedeking gets an RBI.

[APPLAUSE]

I didn't think I'd get into this so early in our day, Laura, but I'm going to ask this anyway. Edco hasn't lost at the tournament. Clarksville has. Clarksville has looked up. That's up the middle off Eglseder glove feeling it and Vaske throw to Kirby gets away going down to

[APPLAUSE]

third.

[APPLAUSE]

Is Wedeking and Wangsness reaches on an error.

This one was a tough one coming back up the middle just out of the reach of Eglseder, and then it made it a tough throw for Vaske coming across. She had to rush that throw and it goes under the glove of Kirby, and this is a great time for coach to come out and take a time out. Coach Huber needs to come out and settle her team down. Right now they have kind of gotten into that little bit of a funk where they just don't feel like anything that you do is any good.

First and third here. Okay, let's just go hard. Let's just go hard. Back to Rachel first and third, okay? And then we're just going to go attack this

[LAUGHTER]

batter.

[LAUGHTER]

Okay?

[LAUGHTER]

We can right here. Get back

[LAUGHTER]

in the dugout.

[LAUGHTER]

Let's go. The four hitter outs on three.

[APPLAUSE]

One, two.

[APPLAUSE]

Three out.

Let's get back into the dugout. I just it's so simple.

[LAUGHTER]

Oh it is it is simple when you're talking about it. But you know what. Words like that from a coach calming presence in the circle knowing that her team can get out of this, get out of this jam, get back into the dugout, get up to the plate and start hitting again. Also have to know in the back of their mind that, and you had mentioned it earlier that Clarksville has had big innings, and they have been able to allow a team to come back.

And there's a little bit of a rundown. It was a delay. It was a short throw. And I think that's what the play

[APPLAUSE]

was. And then there was a little bit of a hot box between first and second. And then when that runner wasn't going to get out, Edco pulled it over to

[LAUGHTER]

third.

[LAUGHTER]

But getting back was Wedeking. So now it's second and third with two outs. That's a swing and a

[APPLAUSE]

miss. So Wangsness goes down to second, Wedeking at third. The batter is

[APPLAUSE]

Kara Bohlen. And now the sun tries to make its appearance here. That's hit in the air to

[LAUGHTER]

right up into that sky. It's a basket catch made by Knipper to end the inning and get the Edco Vikings back into the dugout.

You could see the sunlight gleaming off of those glasses she has out there in right field, a little basket catch had to run in on it and call off Schmelzer to pull that one in.

Three runs in for Clarksville. Coach Katie Burman a crooked number. How'd you do it?

Oh, I mean, this has been the name of our game all all season. And all this tournament is they like to play close games and now we need to need to do our job on defense.

So we're surprised that Sydney Lovrien arm has not fallen off yet this tournament. And how do you think she's doing? She seems to be working through it. Okay.

She she's really tough. But it's her senior year and she said we're going to have to drag her out of here.

[LAUGHTER]

So that's the plan.

All right. Coach thank you so very much.

Thank you.

Katie Burman and her 12th season with Clarksville. They won the championship last year in the game against Wayne. That was the last game of the 2026 or 2025 season. And this year they are playing in the first game on the last day and our five A game will be our nightcap tonight with Ankeny Centennial and Waukee Northwest. And our second game coming up is a rematch of last year's three A championship with Wahlert Catholic of Dubuque and

[APPLAUSE]

Williamsburg. As Williamsburg goes for their fourth in a row state championship here, Clarksville gets an out in the fifth and their quest to go back to back on a simple Wangsness to Bohlen play.

Brown doing what she needed to do in that nine spot, just trying to get herself on and a little slap bunt. But it was right at Wangsness as they had the infield playing in, so she was able to field that on the short hop. That was a tough play, but that's what you have to do. If you're edco right now, put it in play, make them work, make them make the play. See if you can start a rally of your own.

Faith Dugan one way to do it. She had a home run in the third. She big swings it and fouls it off to the right. Dugan we talked about her speed, but

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also she was in the sprint med with Vaske, which set a record even though they finished second. So if it would have been the first place. Even at second, they broke the existing record. So Edco had a good day at Drake Stadium back in May, and turned the page to the next sport. Softball had already started when State Track had been going on. As the season has moved up just a little bit here this

[APPLAUSE]

season.

We get a lot of players from a lot of teams that have that dual sport where they're running track and. Then practicing there, then running over to the softball diamond, getting a few swings in and practicing there, doing a little double duty until track season gets done.

We'll have another track champion to talk about in the Williamsburg, Wahlert game.

Well, you have to believe she's going to go here.

I think you're right. Let's see what the first pitch is. They show, but they don't get it down. Dugan down to second. She is going to be in there safe with a stolen base. So a walk is as good as a double. And Hoefer had showed bunt, but I'm guessing they weren't going to. She was not going to bunt that at all.

Just a distraction out there to try to wave that bat in front of Lodge and maybe throw that throw off just a little bit. She got it down there in pretty good time. But two quick.

Ground ball over to Jordan throws across the diamond. Dugan goes to third throw

[APPLAUSE]

from Bohlen across to Wangsness. Not in time. So Dugan is on third with two outs here in

[LAUGHTER]

the fifth.

To get over. At first.

This is what you're hoping to do. You've got that runner there at third. Just chip away at this lead. Try to find a gap.

Eglseder swings at it. Gloved again by Jordan. So the walk is stranded at

[APPLAUSE]

third as Edco leaves a runner on in their half of the fifth. That keeps our score at

[LAUGHTER]

5 to 2, and it's time to stretch here at Harlan Rogers. Mr. Fitzpatrick.

And join with me in singing Take Me Out to the Ball game. If you can't sing, just kind of sway a little

[LAUGHTER]

bit, you'll be fine. All right

[APPLAUSE]

.

[APPLAUSE]

Let me hear you.

[APPLAUSE] [MUSIC]

Take me out to the ball game. Take me out to the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and cracker Jack. I don't care if I ever get back for its root, root, root for the. If they don't win, it's a shame, for it's three strikes. You're out at the old ball game.

[APPLAUSE]

There was a look at the Clarksville. There is the Edgewood-Colesburg fans. Cheering along here as we go to the bottom of the fifth. Five two our score. Leading things off for Clarksville is their pitcher Sydney Lovrien.

[LAUGHTER]

Looking to ignite a rally and for Edco, what they need to do is just have a very clean inning. Get out of it as quickly as possible and get your bats back to the plate.

Pitch backs up into the strike

[APPLAUSE]

zone. Two. Six two for Edco, 571 for Clarksville. Clarksville had late leads in a couple of games. Got away from them and rallied to win both of those

[APPLAUSE]

contests, and it was a team effort. You look in that 15 inning game on Monday as Lovrien oh for two today, seven eight at bats for some of those Indians players. I mean that's a that's a whole tournament for some players.

Yeah.

They did it in one game.

They had to come back in the bottom of the seventh, the bottom of the eighth, the bottom of the 14th, and then the bottom of the 15th to win it. So they were down and and all but out. And they just had the ability to continue to string hits together. And match the score and be able to move it to the next inning.

That one's fouled back into the screen. So I'll finish my point from earlier, knowing Clarksville has had that adversity and overcoming late leads, even overcoming a loss to get here, Edco has only known the winning side in this new format. But I don't know if that's at play as much as this is a state championship game as well. Or is that a combo platter? Laura.

You know, I, I think the fact that and I think the advantage maybe for Edco is to think this team we're playing has given up leads and we have a shot at maybe being able to climb back into this one. We got to get the sticks going. We can't give up any more runs. We've seen them give up leads, gone to extra innings. And so that I think is an advantage for them. But I think the experience for Clarksville that they've had throughout this tournament and even last year is helpful for them right now.

Lovrien grounds out to Dugan, who throws across to Kirby for out number one to make way for Brooke Bohlen centerfielder freshman grounds it again. Dugan gloves, fires both speed on the diamond at short and down the base pass. Bohlen there in a hurry for out number two.

Well a good job by Dugan concentration wise. She charged that one Vaske was coming over to try to cut it off. Couldn't quite get there. Dugan continued to charge that ball and gloved it very smoothly and got that second out.

Gia Hoodjer, another freshman in the lineup, hits the first pitch to left, and that is going to be caught by Hoefer and left for out number three. Great on the run play and that keeps the Indians at bay there in the fifth.

[APPLAUSE]

As we see Edco go to their huddle, coach Huber pretty excited

[LAUGHTER]

there.

[LAUGHTER]

Let's go do something here.

[LAUGHTER]

Let's go, let's go.

[LAUGHTER]

Let's go. And they got to get some runs here as they're running out of chances. Down to six outs. Here's how we got here on this five two contest today. Back in the first it was Edco getting it started. Eglseder the RBI that scored Dugan for the first run of the game. Then in the second it was the Indians turn. After a sacrifice and a couple of errors that allowed Hall to score. And then it was Edco again. Aly a home run to lead off the third by Faith Dugan. She doesn't need extra help getting around the bases with her speed, and then Clarksville goes to work. This time a good piece of hitting into the corner by Hall, and then in the fourth Lodge had a double and then a launch by Eve Jordan, a two run homer, and that's how we stand. As Jordan would come

[MUSIC]

around to score five two Crooked Number in the fourth and Clarksville six out away, six outs away from repeating in one a Sydney Lovrien goes back

[LAUGHTER]

to work. 500 plus pitches in this

[LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE]

tournament. She'll face Hoefer, Kirby and Schmelzer for Edco.

Coach Huber, saying stay off that rise, ball, get it down into your zone. Don't go after bad pitches.

That

[APPLAUSE]

one's fouled back. Hoefer four of 11 entering

[LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE]

today.

[LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE]

At bat here. On base.

Trying to start something out here. And that is a

[APPLAUSE]

called third strike.

[APPLAUSE]

But great location on that pitch. And Hoefer flinched. Wanted to go after it. Tried to foul it off. Just couldn't do it. Checked the swing you're going to get right there at the upper part of that zone. Gets the call for the strikeout.

Fifth strikeout of the game

[APPLAUSE]

for Lovrien. It hits the net right above us.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE]

Kirby looking for her first hit of the tournament, bats here in

[APPLAUSE]

the sixth.

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She's gotten ahead in the count with both hitters here in this inning.

Pitch to the

[APPLAUSE]

senior has popped up again. We've got seating up

[MUSIC]

above us, so they watch that ball go foul. Didn't used to be that you had seating above us. And there's a look at our high home camera that's been busy chasing home runs and base hits. And the crew today on first and third base. They've been awesome. There's a look at Mark.

Do a great job of capturing all the action and the festivities and the fanfare.

And it's another

[APPLAUSE]

strikeout.

[APPLAUSE]

Kirby down for the third time today. That's the sixth strikeout of the game. It's also the second out of the sixth. Oh, what a nasty pitch.

That was. That was up. And then it just continued to work into the hitter. And Lovrien starting to deal. Now she's starting to feel it.

Why did Coach Burman say she's going to have to

[LAUGHTER]

drag her off the field? And that was going into that game Wednesday night, too, when there was questions of, well, who do you throw on this game of the day? Was Saint Ed's third game of the day. Clarksville

[LAUGHTER]

second. And that one's up the middle. It's going to get past the shortstop and into center field for a two out hit for Addi Schmelzer.

Keeping the inning alive, keeping the hopes alive that they can put a few more runners on. Get it back to the top of the order. Knowing what Dugan did two At-Bats ago.

And that one's hit to short or to second. And it's a groundout.

[APPLAUSE]

Clark to Bohlen.

[APPLAUSE]

Vikings leave a runner. Go scoreless in the sixth. They're down to their final three outs here. We talked about five different fields and some of them are new. Here's a look at what used to be diamond two. And if you look over to the east here on Tuesday, there was a new press box, new concession stand and a new place for guys named Kenny to walk in and out. Kenny was able to fly. We're across the road, by the way, from the Fort Dodge Airport. He was able to head up into the sky and get some images from up above. There's a look at the diamonds. You have the view from the south. The new fields are on the right. That turf field underneath is where they warmed up the diamond on your left now is the diamond we are at again. The diamonds on your right with the logos, the girls union logo. And that's a new parking lot that is there to the south. And that took some getting used to by some people. Kenny had a chance to fly. He waved. He's always up for an adventure and Kenny living it up. You might see us at the State Fair. Him again, climbing into a hog pen or something like that. He's known to do those types of crazy things.

I always like to have somebody on the team like that that's willing to take on those adventures.

I can't exactly repeat all the words that Kenny says. When the opportunity was presented to him. It's not safe for FCC approval, but let's just say it was more like, heck yeah.

I was going to say,

[LAUGHTER]

are you kidding me? Heck yes. I will go up in the plane.

So again, it takes all people doing all things to make this tournament happen. From a broadcast perspective. Second pitch to Hall is turned over to Schmelzer for the groundout takes directors and producers and video operators replay cameras, audio. We just get to sit here and talk and maybe write something down, and every once in a while, and you always make sense. I'm still trying to keep it.

I don't know about that.

I like to keep you on your game. Lauren. Something strange.

You'll throw me a curveball every now and again.

Try not to throw many rice balls.

I usually

[LAUGHTER]

stay off of those.

[LAUGHTER]

Yeah, disciplined.

[LAUGHTER]

I'm disciplined

[APPLAUSE]

.

So Eve Jordan. She had the home run. The big fly back in the

[APPLAUSE] [LAUGHTER]

fourth. And hits another big fly to right. But this one's going to stay in the park for Knipper. And again, you see the sun off of her

[APPLAUSE]

sunglasses.

I was going

[LAUGHTER]

one catch, two.

Three and give themselves their shot in the top of the seventh.

It's a good looking shades. You got to play him when you're looking into the sun. Here. That first pitch is fouled towards the sun off to the west by Kate Lodge, who doesn't miss often when she swings the bat.

She hasn't missed much in this tournament. We talked about coming into this ball game 11 of 22 added two more hits, both

[LAUGHTER]

doubles.

Eglseder pitch goes right up. Thank goodness for Hoefer catching that one. That was right

[LAUGHTER]

in my eye line. Eglseder looks to the left. She'll head to

[LAUGHTER]

Kirkwood and that one does

[APPLAUSE]

get Lodge up and in. And on base for the third time today after two doubles, it's a hit by pitch.

She takes

[LAUGHTER]

up left field.

Right there in the helmet. And she certainly is no worse for the wear. Just kind of popped right back up. And you know, sometimes in the cartoons you see those birds chirping around your head and but. She seems to be okay.

Was she the one that took the. No, it was the Saint Ed's player that had a shot, the catcher that took one in that game the other.

Oh yeah. She. Yes.

Yeah. And there were definitely. Because the first base person for Saint Ed's came in and. Are you all right? And she was smiling and laughing. And the umpire took their time to give her the catcher an opportunity to catch their breath. I always like that when they do that. As Wedeking takes that pitch just out of the reach of Eglseder, quickly shoving over to Dugan as Schmelzer ground ball defense.

[APPLAUSE]

Hey, Laura, we are three outs away from a possible state championship here as Edco. They are down to their final

[APPLAUSE]

three outs, but it is not the final action of sports this season here on Iowa PBS. Yes, it's the end of the 2526 sports year for the kids that graduated, but we'll be back with volleyball on Thursday, November 5th for all five championships, then football back at the Dome. November 19th and 20. Girls wrestling in 27. Boys wrestling on February 20th. Girls basketball and boys basketball. Girls will be at the Casey Center. The boys, Laura new venue on March 12th. Hilton Coliseum.

Yeah, yeah. Big move for the boys to head up to Ames and play in Hilton Coliseum and girls still staying pat at the Casey Center.

And you want to support us in all of our activities to continue to bring this live sports. It's going to take your help. So scan that QR code and make a gift to Friends of Iowa PBS. It allows us to do these high school sports championships while we educate, inform, enrich and inspire Iowans every day. Thank you for watching. And also thank you even more for supporting Iowa PBS and standing with public television. Please consider making that gift right now. You can also call ( 800) 728-2828. And here's the thing. If you're watching that on replay, that number, that QR code works at any time. It's not just on Friday afternoons.

Yeah, scan it often.

Yes.

Give early.

Give often early and often.

Knipper. Brown Dugan 8914

[APPLAUSE]

Edco. Knipper. First pitch swings through and misses. And Knipper comes to bat here in the top of the seventh. That's a ground ball to short Wangsness across the diamond for out

[APPLAUSE]

number one.

[APPLAUSE]

Solid contact, but Wangsness showing the range. Able to slide over. Get there quickly. Charge that ball to get the out.

And we're going to have a pinch hitter. Kalyssa Reimer. The freshman is going to get a chance to swing the bat here as a pinch hitter. So Coach Huber trying to pull. A new batter opportunity against Lovrien first pitch is fouled back

[APPLAUSE]

into the screen. Clarksville. There's a look at Reimer 250 hitter on the

[MUSIC]

season.

Sometimes you just. You got to play a hunch. Go to the bench. Go

[APPLAUSE]

to a hitter that has had success for you all season long, giving her an opportunity to try to make something happen.

Trying to be on base when Dugan comes aboard in the top of the lineup, the zero two misses Lovrien what did you ask at the end of that game Wednesday night? Does she have another gear? Yeah, she knows how to dig deep.

She knows how to dig deep. And she's doing it. She did it the last inning. She's digging deep here in this inning as well.

Sydney wrestled and played basketball.

Yeah we asked her about that. How did you manage that? There the same season. And she said, oh, wasn't that big of a deal.

Popped up. Lovrien calls everybody off, but instead it's the shortstop Wangsness that's the senior coming through there who says, I want that?

She yelled the loudest to get everybody out of the way. Kind of had to go into the crowd and jump up to pull that one in, because Lovrien thought she had it the entire way. And then I think the wind maybe pushed it a little bit. So thank goodness for Wangsness to call everybody off for Clarksville and able to bring that one in.

It's up to Faith Dugan with two

[LAUGHTER]

outs up the middle base. Hit Faith not ready to give up. Gets away from Bohlen, but not enough to allow Dugan to go any further. And Dugan lines an awesome hit right up the middle with two outs.

Boy she has been so good. Alternate long, so good all game long as well. You have to believe that they're going to send her. Why not?

Let's listen in.

Your run doesn't really matter. We need three runs. Okay, so you just keep that line moving. Let's take the first pitch. Okay? Make sure she's

[LAUGHTER]

dialed in and getting her strikes. Okay? You can keep that

[LAUGHTER]

line moving.

[LAUGHTER]

Hit it hard, I believe.

[LAUGHTER]

Okay. Let's go. Okay, then. Otherwise, okay, you're you're going hard on the hit. Okay. If you can get three, get three. But otherwise, make

[LAUGHTER]

sure we're safe.

[LAUGHTER]

Okay.

[LAUGHTER]

Let's go. You can get there on a pass ball.

Taylor Huber played high school ball at Alburnett. College ball at Co in Cedar Rapids. First head coaching job here. Her uncle is now her boss, the superintendent in the district, the oyster houses. And if you watch any of our basketball coverage, you've seen her uncle be one of the state championship basketball

[LAUGHTER]

officials. The pitch is taken by Ava Hoefer with Rachel Eglseder on deck trying to move that line along. Eglseder represents the tying run, but it's with two outs here.

Lovrien pitch.

Is a

[APPLAUSE]

strike. Clarksville had leads came from behind. We're down to their last strike both ways. Let's see what they do here. With two outs popped up foul and now edco down to their last strike

[APPLAUSE]

.

Coach Huber. Just saying. Just relax. Take a deep breath. Battle up there like you would battle any other time during the season.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE]

Swing and a miss. Strike three. And the state championship has taken a train to Clarksville for the second year in a row.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE]

Ghislaine Maxwell game.

[APPLAUSE]

Edgewood-Colesburg two.

[APPLAUSE]

And I'll tell you what. I don't think it's going to be the last train to Clarksville either, because they're young and they could be back here again next year.

The 2026 state championships in class one, a. Reside in Butler County. That high rise ball gets it again and it's time to celebrate and shake hands here for the Indians and the Vikings.

What a great run though. By Edco they were the eight seed. We saw it happen last year that an eight seed came on and won the championship in Pella. We thought we were going to have another story like that. This year just came up a little bit short, but what a great season and a great run that they had here during this tournament.

Plenty of players returning for Edco next year, but a lot of senior tiers happening now.

You got it.

[APPLAUSE]

It's amazing.

[APPLAUSE]

Amazing.

[APPLAUSE]

I'm glad she got to be on this big stage for.

It all. Thanks.

As the Clarksville faithful look on as they watch the application of yet another pink shirt to a Clarksville softball team.

Presenting the class one, a all tournament team medals as members of the IGHSAU staff. Softball Administrator Jason Esslinger and Executive Director Aaron

[APPLAUSE]

Gerlach. Here is your class one, a all tournament

[APPLAUSE]

team from Clarksville. Katelyn

[APPLAUSE]

Lodge.

[APPLAUSE]

From Edgewood-Colesburg Faith Dugan

[APPLAUSE]

.

[APPLAUSE]

From Elkhorn. Kimballton. Audubon. Riley Miller.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE]

From southeast Warren. Lexi

[APPLAUSE]

Clendenen.

[APPLAUSE]

From Saint Edmund. Rhianna Myers.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE]

From Saint Edmund.

[APPLAUSE]

Faith.

[APPLAUSE]

Sherburne.

[APPLAUSE]

From Saint Edmund.

[APPLAUSE]

Ella bandy.

[APPLAUSE]

From Edgewood-Colesburg. Addi.

[APPLAUSE]

Schmelzer.

[APPLAUSE]

From Clarksville.

[APPLAUSE]

Sydney Lovrien.

[APPLAUSE]

From Edgewood. Colesburg. Rachel

[APPLAUSE]

Eglseder.

[APPLAUSE]

And your. Class one. A all tournament team captain for 2026. From Clarksville. Third baseman Eve Jordan.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE]

The number nine hitter for Clarksville.

She had quite a tournament. Yeah, she had quite a tournament, not just at the plate, but also in the field. Defensively, she held down that hot corner and did a really good job of helping Clarksville throughout this tournament. What a great lineup of players, what talent is down here at that one? A level we have seen a lot of really good softball and these players are going to go on and play. A lot of the seniors that are playing their last game are going to go on and play.

Will receive a commemorative softball provided by Iowa Farm Bureau title sponsor of the Girls Athletic Union, presenting awards are members of the IGHSAU Board of Directors. Congratulations to our runners up in class one, a the Vikings of

[APPLAUSE]

Edgewood and Coach Taylor Huber.

[APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE]

And your 2026 class one, a State Softball champions. The Indians of Clarksville head coach Katie Burman

[APPLAUSE]

.

[APPLAUSE]

And now Would like to recognize the quick start start of the game. And that today is from Clarksville, the catcher, Kate Lodge outstanding performance earned her the honor of completing the class one, a bracket. Thanks to Quick Sauer for their support of the IGHSAU.

How's that for veteran move? They send the seniors to get the trophy, then meet the team. Before I let you go, I got to let you know that Sidney's grandma Judy was behind us and I had missed it. She was pacing and she was nervous. No reason to be nervous now. Her and the rest of the Clarksville fans can celebrate.

Boy, they have backed this team all season long and had a fun team to watch. Knew that they had a chance to repeat. They were able to prove it here on the field. It was kind of an up and down tournament. It was a crazy tournament for them, but they were able to come out on top.

Great season for both of them. Thank you so very much. Laura Leonard and the rest of the crew here at Iowa PBS. So Clarksville goes back to back. They take out Edgewood-Colesburg five two for our first of three state championships back with three A here on Iowa PBS. So long for soul right now.

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