Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – It’s a statement that doesn’t really need to be made at this point but here it is anyway – don’t be fooled by the numbers that surround the Regina softball team.

Considering the Regals string of recent state tournament success that warning isn’t exactly necessary for the rest of the Class 2A field so think of it as an annual reminder the ranking, records and statistics surrounding Regina need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Regina has entered the last three state tournaments ranked outside the top five and with double digit losses but has played in the 2A title each year, winning championships in 2015 and last season.

“I’m not sure how many losses we have this year but we always seem to have about the most of any team,” Regina senior Taylor O’Connor said. “We obviously don’t have the best record at state but we play tough teams and we get better.”

This year is more of the same.

Regina (23-15) enters Monday’s Class 2A state quarterfinal with fifth-ranked Alta-Aurelia (22-3) at Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge ranked 10th and tied with River Valley Conference South Division rival Wilton for the most losses among 2A participants

Only three other teams among the 40 state qualifiers lost more games in the regular season than Regina.

The losses aren’t an accident or an anomaly they are simple the product of a challenging schedule filled with games with larger-class opponents designed to prepare Regina for the postseason.

“We understand that we play tough competition and that’s why we do it to get better,” Regina senior Katie Bracken said. “We feel like we are more prepared to go play at state that way.”

The formula for Regina during its three-year title run has been simple and sometimes frustrating but has always paid dividends in the postseason.

Regina loads its non-conference schedule with 4A and 5A competition and added with a rugged RVC slate the losses have piled up.

While a loss is never the goal or an expectation the Regals are well aware of the reason they face such a rugged regular season road.  

“Our record just shows the types of teams that we play every year,” junior center fielder Jess Hunter said. “We lose games but we learn from that and that’s why it helps. We knew why we are playing those teams and we learn from it.”

Former coach Jon Prottsman led Regina to titles in 2015 and 2017, those two championship teams had a combined 25 losses between them.

The Regals’ runner-up team in 2016 lost their 18th game of the season to Van Meter in the title game.

That’s 43 losses for a program over the past three seasons that ended with a pair of state titles and a runner-up finish.

During that same three-year span Regina is 17-1 in postseason games and has outscored opponents 85-24.

“Playing those big schools makes us more confident when it comes to playing 2A schools,” O’Connor said. “We have seen it all, we’ve seen all types of pitchers so we kind of know what to expect so no matter what we come up against in the postseason we have seen something like that before.”

It has been more of the same for Regina this season under first-year head coach Jake Koolbeck.

Of the 15 losses for Regina 12 have come to schools from a larger class with nine losses to 4A or 5A teams.

The Regals also have five wins against 4A and 5A squads.

“I think our girls have handled it great, that’s definitely not to say that there hasn’t been a weekend tournament or two where we got beat up a little bit,” Koolbeck said. “We tried to keep it in perspective that some of those times that we got beat it up it wasn’t really about the score those weekends it was how we could get better against those top teams in 4A or 5A.”

There is little question Regina has been at its best in the postseason.

Regina brings a six-game winning streak into it’s state quarterfinal matchup with Alta-Aurelia at 5:30 p.m. on Monday and has outscored opponents 43-1 during that stretch.

The Regals won three regional games by a combined scored of 24-0 after a 2-0 nine-inning victory over No. 9 North Linn in the regional final.  

“Everything that we’ve seen, the different situations and different styles prepares us,” Koolbeck said. “We’ve seen speed, we’ve seen different types of pitchers, some power hitting teams all of that is a little by design, the idea is hopefully to see some different stuff so nothing surprises you this time of year.

Regina has followed its regular season plan to perfection again.

Now the Regals will try to cap another season with a state title.

“We are more confident after playing those teams but something happens during the postseason,” O’Connor said. “Somehow everything comes together.”