Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

LETTS – Following Regina’s regional semifinal win over Van Buren on Friday head coach Angela Kessler was asked how the Regals had bounced back from an 8-15 season a year ago to a regional title appearance this summer.

Kessler quickly pointed to the leadership of the lone seniors on the roster – Chloe Rogers and Harper Erwin.

On Monday it was Erwin and Rogers that completed Regina’s turnaround season.

Rogers single off the base of the center field fence plated Erwin with the go-ahead run in the fourth inning and ninth-ranked Regina went on to down fourth-ranked Louisa-Muscatine 2-0 in the Class 2A, Region 3 title game on a warm evening at Louisa-Muscatine High School in Letts.

“It’s unreal,” Erwin said. “This is the best group of girls I have ever played with, we have so much fun. We have so much fun together, we always boost each other up and so it’s so exciting.”

The win was the sixth straight for Regina (21-10) and sends the Regals back to the state tournament for the first time since they won the 2A title in 2023.

A 2A state semifinalist last season, Louisa-Muscatine had a 10-game winning streak snapped with the loss and closed the season 28-7.

“Those two are such amazing leaders,” Kessler said of Rogers and Erwin. “They don’t lead us in stats, they don’t lead us by screaming and yelling, they lead by example and they lead by having a connection to every single girl on this team and they just do that and it’s amazing.”

Louisa-Muscatine hadn’t allowed a run in its first 12 postseason innings this season before Rogers’ single in the fourth snapped a scoreless tie on Monday.

“This team has been like a family to me and it meant everything to do it for them,” Rogers said. “I know that this team has my back no matter what and I just wanted to do it for them.”

Erwin reached on an error to open the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Naoni Davisson.

After Jordee Klein lined out sharply to second for the second out of the inning Rogers came up with a clutch two-out hit.

Rogers lined a pitch off the center field fence, scoring Erwin from second and giving the Regals a lead they would never give up.

“I was looking for my pitch,” Rogers said. “I was over-swinging a little bit but at that point I was just thinking contact. Contact scores a run and I was able to get her in.”

Regina added an insurance run it proved not to need in the fifth.

Lily Nibaur led off the inning with a single and scored after a pair of Louisa-Muscatine fielding errors.

“That’s what it is, it’s everybody just working their tail off,” Kessler said. “We are only as good as our weakest link and our weakest link is pretty good.”

That was more than enough support for Nibaur who posted her second shutout in three postseason starts.

Nibaur allowed just three hits and struck out four shutting out the Falcons for just the third time in 35 games this season.

“She is always on her A game,” Rogers said of Nibaur. “That girl throws as hard as she can and she never quits. She never quits until the very end.”

In three postseason games Nibaur has allowed just five hits and one run while striking out 24 in 19 postseason innings.

“She’s like a diesel engine, the more she goes the better she gets,” Kessler said. “That kid is a workhorse. I tell you, she’ll outwork everybody and that’s what she’s been doing.”

The junior right-hander was brilliant on Monday.

She walked three and hit a batter but worked out of two on jams in the second and sixth to keep the game scoreless.

“I worked a lot more outside tonight and I have a few more outside pitches,” Nibaur said. “I had more pitch options tonight than other night and that really helped improve my pitching.”

Nibaur got an assist from her defense in the fifth when Joslynn Ramer led off the inning with a double down the right field line but was thrown out attempting to go to third.

“I think that was really the play that flipped our brains and we figured out we could win this,” Nibaur said. “Our defense was on point tonight, there wasn’t a single mistake, we made great plays and I think that just hyped everyone up to the next level.”

Nibaur allowed a two-out single to Payton Raisbeck in the fifth but didn’t give up another hit.

“We all care so much and I think that’s a big part of it,” Erwin said. “We all care, we all want to work hard for each other especially with Lily on the mound, she works so hard and we are all motivated by that.”

Regina                        000  110  0  –   2  5  1

Louisa-Muscatine     000  000  0  –   0  3  8

W – Lily Nibaur                     L – Grace Hoopes

2B – L-M: Joslynn Ramer

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