The West Fork baseball team, with a late inning rally, won 11-8 over St. Edmond in Class 1A District 4 semifinal on Tuesday to advance to their second district final in a row. St.Edmond led 4-0 in the first, then the Warhawks rallied with five runs in the bottom of the inning to take their first lead. The Gaels scored one in the second, two in the fourth and one in the fifth to go up 8-5. The Warhawks soared in the sixth, plating six runs to secure advancement. Brett Beher had three RBIs. Trevor Despenas, in relief, had three strikeouts and allowed one earned run in 3.2 innings. The Warhawks, at 12-10, will play at Wapsie Valley in a district final on Saturday.
The #7 (2A) West Fork softball team (19-6) will open playoff action by hosting Alta-Aurelia in a Class 2A Region 8 quarterfinal on Wednesday. The game will air on 104.9 KLMJ. The Warhawks concluded a memorable regular season as winners of eight of their final 10 games, including marquee wins over #8 (1A) Newman Catholic, previously unbeaten #4 (2A) Osage and #11 (2A) Central Springs. Five different Warhawks are hitting over .300 avg led by JoAnna Wallace at .493 and Brooke Rother at .419 with a team leading 36 RBIs. Head Coach Sadie Winfrey on keys as their postseason run begins.
“We’ve talked about really that’s what they control is their energy and attitude. As long as that stays high and strong, I really think that we’re going to have a strong end to the season. Then keeping our bats hot and cleaning up some of those small errors that maybe were a make or break for us in some of those games,” says Winfrey. “They have fun on the field. I feel like we have fun together as a team. That transfers and helps you to be successful when they’re having fun.”
Ace pitcher Libby Trewin concluded the regular season ranked second in the Top of Iowa East in ERA and strikeouts.
Alta-Aurelia (7-15) advanced to the matchup with a 10-2 win in five innings over South Central Calhoun in the first round on Monday. Quimby Kies leads the Warriors with 17 RBIs. Leah Kannegaiter in the circle has 54 strikeouts and a 7.35 ERA.
Pregame coverage will begin at 6:40 p.m. followed by the first pitch at 7:00 p.m. in Sheffield. The winner will advance to a regional semifinal on Friday against either Sioux Central or East Sac County.
