The West Fork baseball team will take the field in their second straight district final with a visit to Wapsie Valley, as the programs meet in a Class 1A District 4 final on Saturday. The game will air on 104.9 KLMJ.
West Fork (12-10) in their run to the district final won 8-3 over West Hancock on Monday and 11-8 over St.Edmond on Tuesday. The Warhawks have a team ERA of 3.38, leading the rotation is Trevor Despenas with a 1.31 ERA and Zander Hansen with 47 strikeouts. Hansen has 22 RBIs to pace the team. Head Coach Kayden Ames on keys in battle against the Warriors.
“Seeing a new face, I guess you could say, I’m real excited about that and I know our players are as well. We’re gonna go in, do what we do, go out there and compete,” says Ames. “The keys are throw strikes and let them miss the ball. That’s number one. Behind that, we gotta be clean in the field. As long as we can do that, limit errors and walks. As long as we can limit free base runners. I believe our bats, if not hot at the beginning, they’ll come alive eventually or we’ll find ways to get runs across. As long as we can limit those mistakes, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
Wapsie Valley (19-6) in postseason run won 10-0 in five innings over Rockford on Monday and AGWSR on Tuesday. The Warriors have a team ERA of 2.58, led by Garet Shannon with a 0.88 ERA and Bryar Bellis with 46 strikeouts. Cadyn Dana leads the lineup with 26 RBIs.
This will be the first meeting between the programs since 2021, which was a 9-2 win for Wapsie Valley.
Pregame coverage will begin at 6:40 p.m. followed by the first pitch at 7:00 p.m. in rural Fairbank. The winner will advance to face either Bishop Garrigan or Saint Ansgar in a substate final on Tuesday.
