Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The stat caught Regina coach Jeff Pacha so off guard he had to look it up to make sure.

Long-time West High coach Charlie Stumpff and his cross-town counterpart at City High Brian Mitchell didn’t need to do any research.

Both knew all too well from personal experience the number was correct.

That number is zero and the column it goes behind is a big one – all-time state baseball titles for Iowa City schools.

“I have no explanation but I’m surprised just knowing all the talent that I have faced and witnessed,” said Stumpff who is in his 24th season leading the program at West High. “I have no explanation but I’m shocked that Iowa City hasn’t won a title yet.”

Stumpff isn’t alone in his surprise that an Iowa City school has never hoisted a state title trophy.

Pacha, who is in his third season as the head coach at his alma mater, went back to check the records when told Iowa City had never produced a state champ on the diamond.

“That is something that was brought to my attention three or four years ago and I had to double check the facts because you never really know and it goes back a long time,” Pacha said. “It’s kind of a monkey on the back so to speak.”

Pacha and Stumpff both have their teams two wins away from ending the Iowa City title drought.

Ninth-ranked Regina (28-8) faces perennial power Dyersville Beckman in the 2A semifinals on Thursday at 5 p.m. while third-ranked West High (32-8) has a date with No. 2 West Des Moines Dowling on Friday at 5 p.m. in the 4A semifinals.

After what has been nearly a century without a state title, players at West High and Regina are hoping to give Iowa City a pair of championships in one day.

“With the quality of teams that we have in Iowa City and the talent of players we have had here it is surprising,” West High senior Nate Disterhoft said. “We’ve made it there and now somebody has to get it done and hopefully both us and Regina can this year.”

The state of Iowa started playing for baseball titles in the spring of 1928. The summer baseball season began recognizing champs in 1946.

During that span a team from Iowa City has never walked away with a state title win.

“It is surprising, we’ve had so much great talent coming out of Iowa City with West, Regina and City High, it’s a shock,” West High senior Izaya Ono-Fullard said. “We’ve had so many talented guys come through here and I think us and Regina have a really good shot at getting it done.”

Iowa City has been close before but the title game experiences have been strictly heart break for West High, City High and Regina.

The three Iowa City schools have combined to go 0-11 in state title games with each program making at least three trips to the state final.

West High has the most title game appearances of the group with five and has fallen in the 4A title game each of the past three seasons after a 12-3 loss to first-time champion Cedar Rapids Prairie last season.

“The City High teams in the 90s were incredible, Regina has had good teams and I would think people would say our run we’ve had now is pretty good,” Stumpff said. “We’ve had so much talent but boy you’d think just by luck we would have won one.”  

City High was the first team to make a final, falling in the title game in 1959.

Little Hawk hurler Ed Watt only allowed two hits and two balls to be hit out of the infield while striking out a championship game record 15 in that 1959 title game, a 2-0 City High loss to Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson.

That tough luck loss started a string of weird, wild and gut-wrenching title game outcomes for the Little Hawks and the entire Iowa City baseball community.

The Little Hawks played for titles in 1992 and again in 1995.

City High outhit Ankeny 14-4 in the 1992 title game but fell 9-8. The top-ranked Little Hawks were upset by West Des Moines Valley 6-5 in the 1995 title game.

“For us that was a big disappointment,” said Mitchell who was a member of the 1995 runner-up team. “I think we were ranked number one pretty much all year long and were the one seed and went into that game expecting that we were going to win and from our point of view it was an odd night, a bizarre night and we just came up short.”

Regina made three trips to the 2A title game in six seasons beginning in 1988 but came up short all three times.

The Regals lost 9-8 to Pella Christian in its final title game appearance in 1994.  

“The one thing with baseball is the better team doesn’t always win so you have to play the best the day,” Pacha said. “It’s easy here with the surroundings and the energy that is here to get nervous and feel that pressure but what we have been really trying to do is understand what we are trying to do in that moment and always focus on the next pitch.”

No Iowa City teams has seen as much title game heartbreak as West High.

The Trojans have lost five title games by a combined score of 35-6, the closest game a 2-0 loss to Southeast Polk in 2014.

West High won 103 games from 2014 to 2016, winning at least 34 each season but came up short in the 4A title game each year.

“There are some of these an Iowa City team has had the best team but in baseball it doesn’t always come down to that,” West High senior Connor McCaffery said. “If you aren’t going to have a three-game series the best team isn’t always going to win. One of these last three years we’ve had the best team but that’s just how it happens.”

West High and Regina will try to reverse that final-game misfortune this season but face challenging paths as always to do so.

West High will be making its seventh semifinal appearance in the past nine seasons against CIML power West Des Moines Dowling while Regina squares off with perennial 2A title Dyersville Beckman in the semifinals.

“Just based on recent history West will have their hands full for sure but I certainly wouldn’t bet against them this year,” Mitchell said. “They can get it done.”

Stumpff, who has won 726 games in his career but never the final game of a season, would like nothing more than to get that first title this season for a group of seniors that has come up just shy three times.

“You try and keep it about the kids, this is their last chance to get a title and we haven’t won that last game,” Stumpff said. “We root for Regina, we have a bunch of friends on that team and they are going for it and we hope we are playing well enough to get it done. Just winning the darn thing would be huge then we can sit back and say that is huge.”