Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – At the start of each new season there are always changes coaches need to make.

Usually it amounts to a few tweaks to the lineup here or there or some switches defensively.

For West High fourth-year coach Justin Lutjen it was an adjustment or two but more like a complete overhaul from a season ago.

“It was a lot of everything,” Lutjen said. “It was different roles, it was new kids, it was young kids, it was bigger roles, leadership changes. It just took a little while.”

For two weeks to open the season West High looked like a work in progress.

Now with the postseason looming a week away the Women of Troy are putting things together.

West High stretched its winning streak to seven with a 6-3 win over Class 4A No. 15 Charles City (29-6) on Saturday at Pearl Field, capping a 4-0 performance at its own 30th annual Rick Doran Classic.

Freshman Kiahna Hill and Brylee Klosterman each had two hits and a pair of RBI as West High (23-13) won its third game over a ranked team at the two-day tournament at the University of Iowa softball complex.

“We had a lot of changes at the beginning and it took us a while to figure out where everyone should be,” Klosterman said. “I think it’s really benefitting us now and we’ve found how we can play and where we should all be.”

Saturday was the latest in a string of strong performances that have been part of an impressive turnaround for West High.

Since a 3-11 start to the season the Women of Troy have won 20 of their last 22 games and are 17-1 since June 8.

“I’m not going to lie when we were sitting 3-11 we were hanging on the edge as a coaching staff and saying ‘who are we as a team’,” Lutjen said. “Really it just took one solid effort to come out and get it to snap into place that we are a pretty good team. Ever since that we have put it together and we’ve been pretty consistent for the most part.”

The six runs for West High in Saturday’s finale were the most for the Women of Troy in any of their four games at the tournament.

A lack of runs didn’t stop West High from winning four straight at its home event.

West High used strong pitching and tight defense to earn wins over 4A No. 8 Mount Pleasant (4-1) and 5A No. 12 Muscatine (3-1) on Friday and utilized the same formula in a 4-1 win Louisa-Muscatine on Saturday morning.

“We didn’t have the best weekend hitting but we just try to keep the energy up and if one thing isn’t going great try to play well somewhere else,” West High senior centerfield Taleah Smith said. “I thought our defense was great.”

West High hammered out nine hits in the win over Charles City, all off ace Samantha Heyer who entered with a 1.29 ERA.

Klosterman gave West High a 1-0 lead in the third with a one-hop double off the center field wall that scored Smith.

“Everyone just keeps getting more and more confident,” Klosterman said. “We just keep getting better and better.”

West High broke the game open with three runs in the fourth.

Hill started the fourth-inning scoring with a pinch hit RBI single that scored Skylar Ryan.

Smith plated a run with a triple to right field and scored on a Darby Donovan single.

“It’s come together so much better than I thought,” Smith said. “The young kids have really stepped it up and when we need them in pressure situations they always come through four us.”

West High added single runs in the firth on another RBI single by Hill and in the sixth on another double off the center field fence by Klosterman.

That was enough for Kylie Heisdorffer who picked up the win allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out one and walking one.

“We left a lot to be desired at the plate this weekend but everything else was good,” Lutjen said. “Our pitching was good, our defense was good and we did get some timely hits and we pushed some runs across.”

West High travels to 5A No. 4 Cedar Rapids Jefferson on Monday and closes the regular season at home against Dubuque Senior on Wednesday.

The postseason begins for West High on Saturday in the 5A Region 7 semifinals at 5A No. 9 Davenport West.

“Now we are doing everything we need to do to win games when earlier in the year we were basically doing everything we had could do to lose them,” Lutjen said. “If everyone starts swinging the bat and we get it all rolling on one day we are a dangerous team so I like where we are at right now, I really do.”

Game 1

West High                  001  311 –  6  9  1

Charles City              000  030 –  3  8  1

W – Kylie Heisdorffer            L – Samantha Heyer

2B – ICW: Brylee Klosterman. CC: Tayler Schmidt

3B – ICW: Taleah Smith