Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SIOUX CITY – Iowa has been crowning state baseball champions for nearly a century.

Since the state started championships in 1928 a state title had eluded City High.

There were certainly close calls.

City High reached the state title game three times including one-run losses in 1992 and 1995.

There were opportunities recently to snap the title drought.

City High made four trips to the state tournament over the past five seasons playing in three different cities.

Every season ended in heartbreak, the most disappointing semifinal losses in 2022 and 2024.

This week City High finally found the secret to state tournament success nearly 300 miles from home in the form of a throwback style baseball trip that ended with the first title in program history.

“This week, the drive, staying out here in the hotel, being around each other, it’s exactly what we needed,” City High senior Talon Young said. “It was everything to us.”

City High lost state semifinals in Eastern Iowa twice in the past three seasons.

The Little Hawks fell to West Des Moines Dowling at Banks Field in Iowa City in 2022 and two years later at Veterans Memorial Park in Cedar Rapids.

For a single season the schedule sent the Class 4A state tournament to Lewis & Clark Park in Sioux City a mere 293-mile, four hour and 30 minute drive from City High.

It was exactly what City High needed.

“This has been an unbelievable experience being out here,” City High coach Brian Mitchell said. “Everyone is like ‘oh you have to go to Sioux City’ this has been awesome for us. We’ve bonded through this.”

In previous state tournament trips Mitchell said he felt his team wanted to win almost too much. Those Little Hawk teams wanted so badly to do what no other team in school history had done that pressure mounted late in the season.

Playing the state tournament close to home the past several seasons took the pressure to a new level.

“Sometimes we talk that the guys want it so bad, (we said) ‘want it less’,” Mitchell laughed. “When you want things so bad you tense up.”

This week the trip to Sioux City offered a reprieve from the postseason stress.

The result was a looser, more relaxed City High team.

“It felt like the old USSSA days, running around the hotel, playing cards,” Young said. “We were loose, excited, we had two of the most fun days of practice ever. We know when we play loose no one can beat us.”

After a quarterfinal win over Waukee on Tuesday morning the Little Hawks had more than 48 hours together in Sioux City.

It felt like youth baseball days for the Little Hawks, many of which grew up playing together since elementary school

“It’s been amazing, amazing,” City High senior Drew Nye said. “I said early in the week it was like USSSA baseball days. Having fun with the boys and winning ball games. We’ve all been playing together since 7U with Little Hawks and this week feels like 7U, 8U, 9U.

City High avenged a regular season doubleheader sweep to Cedar Rapids Prairie with a 6-3 win over the Hawks in the semifinals.

The message for City High heading into Friday’s 4A title game, was the same as it was when they were growing up – relax and have fun.

“I think our best swings have been in the later season just because we’ve been having fun with the boys,” Nye said. “Coach talked about us being loose and being how we’ve been. Be loose and have fun.”

City High completed a memorable week with a 4-1 win over eighth-seeded Bettendorf in the 4A title game to secure the first state title in program history.

“Our kids grow up playing together,” Mitchell said. “They’ve grown up playing together, they’ve been through the battles together on the baseball field. To have that experience where you get a couple of classes coming together, it’s special. They’ve played together for so long and it means so much.”

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating