Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Last season it was West High that was one of the surprises of the Class 4A postseason.

A year ago the Trojans advanced to the substate finals as a five seed with wins over second-seeded Cedar Rapids Prairie and Davenport Central.

This season Linn-Mar is seeking a turn as playoff Cinderella.

Linn-Mar (19-20) scored seven unanswered runs on its way to a 7-3 win over West High in a Class 4A, Substate 7 quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City.

“It’s a magical time, because the best team doesn’t always win,” Linn-Mar coach Kyle Rodenkirk said. “It’s really anybody’s ball game and that’s what we’ve been preaching to our guys is it’s not over until that last out.”

Fourth-seeded Linn-Mar hammered 13 hits and erased an early 3-0 lead while advancing to the Substate 7 semifinals where it will travel to ninth-ranked Ankeny Centennial (24-13) on Monday at 7 p.m.

Ankeny Centennial defeated Marshalltown 11-1 in the quarterfinals.

The winner of Monday’s semifinal will face sixth-ranked Liberty High (31-9) in the Substate 7 title game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in North Liberty.

West High had its sights set on a second consecutive postseason push but ended its season 19-20 under first-year head coach Jamie O’Meara.

“I am really proud of these guys, they really battled and they played with so much passion all year,” O’Meara said. “When your guys play with so much passion like that you don’t like to see it end.”

West High got off to a great start in its postseason opener on Saturday, in a game that was originally scheduled for Friday evening at West High but moved to Saturday afternoon at the turf at Duane Banks Field due to heavy rain on Friday evening.

Henry Elser and Keith Moody each had RBI singles in a three-run West High first inning that gave the Trojans the early momentum.

However, that was all the offense West High would produce.

Linn-Mar relievers Brody Faulkner and Luke Sowers combined to work six scoreless innings as the Lions limited West High to four hits over the final six innings.

“Our guys played with a lot of passion, they came out right away and we got guys on base right away and had a big first inning,” O’Meara said. “I think we got guys on almost every inning but couldn’t get that timely hit.”

Linn-Mar finally got its offensive going in the fifth.

Tavian Soppe had a sacrifice fly to get the Lions on the board and Kaden Harris followed with an RBI single.

A Colten Bergen RBI double tied the game at 3-3 and Landon Sorg gave the Lions the lead with an RBI single.

“Our guys just kept believing,” Rodenkirk said. “Going down 3-0 in the first inning it’s almost going down 6-0 because everything is magnified in the playoffs. I was proud of our guys being resilient.”

West High had chances to add runs but Linn-Mar turned double plays to end both the fifth and sixth innings.

The Lions added two runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to build a 7-3 cushion.

“We had a lot of good at bats from a lot of seniors,” Rodenkirk said. “They were just grinding those at bats and getting the ball to lay down somewhere.”

Elser, senior Chase Bopp and junior Brady Thoma all had two hits for West High while senior Keith Moody had a hit and drove in a run.

“For my first year it was a great group of seniors to have,” O’Meara said. “All of them are going to go on and do great things in this world and the impact they left on our school and our program are going to be remembered for years.”

Linn-Mar                   000  042  1  –  7  13  1

West High                  300  000  0  –  3   8   0

W – Brody Faulkner                                       L – Kyle Cherry

2B – L-M: Colton Bergen (2)

3B – L-M: Charlie Sarsfield

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