Little League Baseball: State tournament gets underway in Centerville
Jul. 21—CENTERVILLE — Grant Husted and his Davis County Little League teammates like playing at Centerville's Memorial Park.
"We're on a little bit of a winning streak here," Husted said.
If that winning streak continues, a state championship banner may be headed 20 miles back down Highway 2. The 11-year-old squad from Bloomfield booked a spot in the upcoming Iowa State Little League tournament last Friday night with a 13-0 win in four innings over Monroe County, claiming the District 7 championship on the home field of Appanoose County.
The win sends Davis County to state, which just happens to be back in Centerville this year. Both Davis County and Appanoose County, the host team, will represent the seventh district of the state in the seven-team state tournament which got underway on Friday night with the first three of the 22 games that will determine the 11-year-old Iowa State Little League championship.
"We're ready and we're definitely ready to have two district teams in it. That's going to be huge," Appanoose County tournament director Chris Cook said. "The board is ready. The league is ready. We're all ready for it."
Appanoose County is hosting an Iowa State Little League tournament for the second time in three years, having hosted the 8-9 year-old state tournament in 2021. Grandview closed out that tournament winning a thrilling 11-9 championship game against another central Iowa squad, Johnston, in the first state Little League tournament to be played at Memorial Park since the 9-10 year-old tournament in 2013.
Grandview's 11-year-old Little League team, featuring some of the same players that were part of that run to the 8-9 year-old Iowa State Little League title, will be part of the tournament field along with Davis County and Appanoose County. Rounding out the field is Southeast Polk, Grinnell, Morningside (Sioux City) and Davenport Southeast.
"We're definitely ready to host the tournament, but I think our district will put a good showing on the field," Cook said. "Having the state tournament is always a bonus. You get teams from different parts of the state down to southeast Iowa. It's big for the community and big for the district in general."
Davis County has won six of seven postseason games thus fa, bouncing back from a 7-2 loss to Appanoose County to win four straight games to earn their state tournament berth. In the winner-take-all district final, Davis County never looked back against Monroe County after putting five runs on the board in the very first inning as starting pitcher Grant Husted pitched a four-inning, two-hit shutout.
"My fastball was really working for me. If (Monroe County) hit it, they only hit little bloopers to the infield or barely into the outfield," Husted said. "We all help each other on this team. This is where we've really started out winning streak. We've already won four games here (at Memorial Park). We just like playing here."
The only team to beat Davis County in district play will look to use that result as motivation to make a run at a state title on their home diamond. Appanoose County's five-run win over the eventual district champions back on July 5 came as a result of a 10-strikeout performance on the mound from Blaine Ewing and five errors by Davis County that resulted in six unearned runs.
Since that loss, Davis County has committed just four errors in their last four games allowing just four runs in that stretch including an 11-1 win over Appanoose County in the rematch between the teams last Thursday in the district semifinals. Three running catches in the outfield in the final two innings against Monroe County showcased that Davis County can hang in defensively with whatever they face from their statewide opposition over the upcoming week in Centerville.
"It's kind of fun when the guys are making plays like that," Husted said. "We've got a lot of confidence going out there as a team right now."
Both Appanoose County and Davis County opened play on Friday in two of the first three games in pool play with Appanoose County facing Morningside and Davis County facing Grinnell. Both teams will be part of a busy Saturday that includes six games on the diamonds at Memorial Park following opening ceremonies for the tournament starting at 10 a.m.
Pool play will continue with three games a day over the next four days. Action on Sunday starts at 1 p.m. Games will continue on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday starting at 5 p.m. The two teams with the top two records in pool play will meet for the state championship on Thursday night at 6 p.m.
Cook is hopeful that, whoever comes out on top, that the district made up of southeast Iowa communities continues to build a reputation as a place to bring even more Little League state tournaments to in the near future.
"I would like to think anywhere in our district would be a good host for a state tournament," Cook said. "We had a great tournament two years ago for the 8-9-year-olds. We're looking to have a great tournament this year for the 11-12 year-olds. They like to keep the 10 and 12-year-olds state tournaments together. That would be huge, especially with 12-year-olds making it on to regionals and a step closer to the Little League World Series. Getting the state tournament would be the ultimate goal."
— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.
