Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WAPELLO – In the present Friday’s regional semifinal loss to Wapello was a disappointing end to the season for West Branch.

In the future the Bears believe they will look back at their 2019 postseason run as the start of something special.

West Branch had a five-game winning streak that included an upset of defending 2A runner-up Regina snapped on Friday with a season-ending 9-0 loss to Wapello (16-12) in the 2A, Region 8 semifinals.

With every player on its roster set to return next season first-year head coach Chandran Lapel couldn’t help but look at the future rather than dwell on the past.

“Next season starts tomorrow and we have to approach it that way,” Lapel said. “This team is something special so if they have the right mentality in the offseason we are going to be a tough team to beat next year for sure.”

West Branch flashed its potential over the final two weeks of the season.

The Bears rattled off five wins including a pair of postseason victories before Friday’s regional semifinal loss.

The final win during that stretch was a 3-1 upset of Region 8 top-seeded Regina on Wednesday.

“We are in such a tough conference and we play such good teams all year so I was hoping that when we got to the postseason that would help us,” Lapel said. “I told the girls that they have nothing to hang their heads about.”

It is easy to see why the Bears are so bullish about the future.

With no seniors on its roster West Branch could bring back its roster intact from a team that finished 18-18, the most wins for the program since 2012.  

“It stinks that we took a loss tonight but we are ready really pumped to get back on the field,” sophomore centerfielder Nicki Henson said. “Looking back on the past two weeks Kaiya (Luneckas) pitched phenomenally well, our defense was one of the best and once we get our bats going I think we are unbeatable. It’s great knowing that we have all that coming back.”

West Branch sat at 10-14 on June 21 but won eight of its final 12 games with two of those losses coming against Regina.

The Bears scored double digit runs four times in its first 25 games, a feat it accomplished three times during its late five-game winning streak.

“Mentally we have improved so much,” Henson said. “Our coaches believe in us, that’s a big thing for our team. That’s amazing to have that belief so it was more of a mental thing than a physical thing.”

West Branch simply couldn’t get anything going on Friday against Wapello starter Samantha Smith.

The senior left-hander struck out five and allowed just four hits in a complete game shutout.

“She mixed it up well,” Lapel said of Smith. Their pitcher did a good job of keeping us off balance and we haven’t seen a lefty in a while and that makes a difference too.”

Wapello got all the run support Smith would require with a four-run third inning.

Mady Reid started the scoring with an RBI single and Serah Shafer plated two more with a two-run double.

The Arrows broke the game open with five runs in the sixth, taking advantage of an error and four walks.

Luneckas, who had allowed five hits and two walks combined in two playoff wins, took the loss allowing nine runs on five hits while walking five and striking out five.

“She kept in there and did what she needed to do and kept going and I’m very proud of her for that,” Lapel said. “hey found holes in the field. It’s hard when they string that many hits together and tonight we just couldn’t do that.”

Henson had two of the four hits for West Branch with singles in the first and sixth.

Maddy Hatfield had a double and Taylor Thein added a single for the Bears.

“We had a very good season and we have everybody coming back,” Lapel said. “We have no seniors so that is something really special to look forward to.”

West Branch  000  000  0  –  0  4  1

Wapello          004  005  x  –  9  7  0

W – Samantha Smith              L – Kaiya Luneckas

2B – WB: Maddy Hatfield. WAP: Mady Reid, Serah Shafer

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