Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Softball teams race to cram 40 regular season games into a six-week span during May and June before the schedule slows down in July as the stakes go up once the postseason hits.

After playing just two or three games over the last week or two the schedule heats up in a hurry for state qualifiers this week in Fort Dodge.

The state softball tournament kicks off at Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge on Monday and runs until Friday.

Here are five things to watch before championship hardware is handed out on Thursday and Friday evening.

Check the Schedule

This year’s state tournament comes with a few tweaks to the schedule and a few less games.

10 total games will be cut from the schedule in past years with the elimination of fifth and seventh-place games in all five classes.

Teams that lose quarterfinals will play one consolation game on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Wednesday, previously a day of all consolation bracket games will now be filled with all 10 semifinals across five classes with championship games split between Thursday and Friday evening.

The Class 1A and 2A title games will be Thursday with the 3A, 4A and 5A championships on Friday beginning with 3A at 3:30 p.m.

Individual Excellence

Regardless of what aspect of the sport you enjoying chances are this state tournament field has a player that does it as well as any in the state.

Whether its power hitting, hitting for average, stealing bases or dominant pitching the 2018 field has a player to watch.

Here are a few players to catch that enter this week leading the state in a specific statistical category (or two or three).

Benton Community senior Shelby Hulsebus leads state in hits (89) and batting average .654.

Janesville junior Lily Liekweg has stolen a state-high 71 bases in 72 attempts.

Dubuque Hempstead senior Alana Cooksley leads the state with 26 doubles.

Alta-Aurelia junior Lily Peterson has the state’s top slugging percentage at 1.349.

AGWSR Junior Taryan Barrick has struck out a state-best 360 batters and Alta-Aurelia junior Abby Kraemer leads the state with 2.2 strikeouts per inning.

Davenport Assumption senior Hannah Kelley ranks second in the state with a .44 ERA.

Look Who’s Back

It took a while but City High is headed back to Fort Dodge.

City High (24-18) will end a 17-year state tournament drought when it faces top-ranked Pleasant Valley in a 5A quarterfinal on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

The Little Hawks enter as an eight seed but have more than a little bite.

City High ranks fourth in Class 5A with 34 home runs and nearly a third of its hits this season have gone for extra bases.

Six starters in the City High lineup are hitting over .319 and four different Little Hawks have at least four home runs.

Freshman Carey Koenig leads the charge with a .360 average, eight home runs and 53 RBI while sophomores Keli Potter (.383) and Sydney Fellows (.328) have each hit seven home runs and combined have 82 RBI.

Freshman Ayana Lindsey boasts a 2.39 ERA in 146 1/3 innings and allowed just one run on six hits in a 1-0 loss to Pleasant Valley earlier this season as City High split a doubleheader with the Spartans in May.

Returning Champions

Three teams return to Fort Dodge this week with hopes a repeat.

Pleasant Valley, Davenport Assumption and Regina all return to the state tournament as defending champions a year after falling in the state title game.

Regina rallied for a 5-4 win over Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in 14 innings in a memorable 2A title game a year ago after falling to Van Meter in the 2016 title game.

The tenth-ranked Regals (23-15) are seeking a fourth consecutive title game appearance.

Top-ranked Pleasant Valley (33-7) dropped the 2016 5A title game to Johnston before downing Waukee for its first title last season.

Davenport Assumption (36-3) enters top-ranked and seeking a second straight title after defeating Albia 8-0 in last year’s 3A championship.

There will be new champions in Class 1A and 4A as last year’s 1A champion Lansing Kee and 4A champion Winterset failed to qualify.

Bringing Out the Best

Something about the postseason seems to bring out the best in Regina.

The Regals have lost 58 games over the last four regular seasons combined but are 20-1 in postseason games during that stretch while reaching the 2A title game each of the past three seasons.

Regina has picked up the pace again in the postseason, outscoring opponents 24-0 in three regional wins.

Perhaps no Regal has been better down the stretch than junior pitcher Katie Bracken.

Bracken enters Monday’s quarterfinal with third-ranked Alta-Aurelia (22-3) with a stretch of 26 consecutive scoreless innings after a nine-inning complete game shutout of No. 9 North Linn in the regional final.

In 17 postseason innings Bracken has allowed five hits and walked two while striking out 19.