Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SIOUX CITY – No one could blame any City High player that didn’t know the last time the Little Hawks played for a state baseball title.

After all, there wasn’t a player on the City High roster that was alive when the Little Hawks lost the 1995 championship game 6-5 to West Des Moines Valley.

However, that isn’t the case with the current City High squad.

The Little Hawks, at least most of them, know it had been 30 years since City High had reached a state title game.

That changed on Thursday when fourth-ranked City High returned to the state title game for the first time in three decades with a 6-3 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie in a Class 5A quarterfinal.

“Coach (Brian Mitchell) played in that game, it’s crazy to think about, it means everything to get back to that game,” City High senior Dom Salibi said. “A lot of the coaches at City High have put in the time with us. For us to come through like this is great.”

This year’s City High squad, led by Mitchell, knows its program history.

On Friday the Little Hawks will try to make some history.

City High (32-9) will be seeking its first ever state baseball title when it faces eighth-seeded Bettendorf (29-12) in the 4A title game on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Lewis & Clark Park in Sioux City.

Bettendorf defeated fifth-ranked Waukee Northwest 5-3 in the semifinals on Thursday.

“I know it’s been a long time since we played in this game and I know we have never won it,” City High senior Drew Nye said. “But we are about to turn 59 (state titles at City High) to 60 pretty soon. That’s our goal.”

City High got the first breakthrough it needed on Thursday with its 6-3 win over Mississippi Valley Conference rival Cedar Rapids Prairie.

In six previous trips to the state tournament since its last title game appearance since 1995 City High had reached the semifinals four times without a championship game return.

That included semifinals losses to West Des Moines Dowling in 2022 and last season.

It  changed on Thursday.

“We’ve been on the doorstep a lot so it means a lot,” Mitchell said. “These kids work their butts off, the coaches work their butts off, parents work their butts off. It means a lot.”

City High will be chasing its first ever title in its fourth trip to the state finals.

The Little Hawks were runner-up in 1959, 1992 and 1995.

A City High title would be the first ever state baseball title for any Iowa City school.

“It would mean the world,” Mitchell said. “Iowa City has never had a title and we know that so it would mean the world to us.”

Standing in the way on Friday is a Bettendorf team that has been the Cinderella of the postseason.

The Bulldogs needed two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Dubuque Hempstead 4-3 in the substate title game.

This week in Sioux City Bettendorf knocked off top-seeded Sioux City East 2-1 in the quarterfinals and scored twice in the seventh inning of a 5-3 win over Waukee Northwest in Thursday’s semifinal.

City High enters riding a six-game winning streak after downing Waukee 5-3 in the quarterfinals and Cedar Rapids Prairie 6-3 in the semifinals.

“We have to play the same,” Salibi said. “We have to hit the same and we will be good. I have faith in us.”

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