Winterset softball's string of state tournament upsets leads to second-straight championship

Winterset softball entered the Iowa high school softball state tournament this week as the No. 7 seed.

But on Thursday, the Huskies defeated 8-seed North Scott, 5-3, to repeat as the Class 4A state champions.

“We weren’t even supposed to make the state tournament,” sophomore Neela Applegate told the Des Moines Register postgame. “We had no expectations, no pressure. We were just having fun, playing our game and we surpassed so many expectations.”

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Not only did the Huskies win the state title for the second-straight season, but they set an all-class tournament record with 44 hits between three games: 20 in the quarterfinal versus Carlisle, 11 against Fort Dodge in the semifinal and 13 in the championship.

For the first two innings, only Winterset’s Makenna Olson managed a hit. North Scott didn’t have any hits in the first or second innings, but that didn’t stop the Huskies from switching pitchers from Molly Breeding to Brynn Acton.

The Huskies added three more hits in the third inning, including another drive from Olson. Jena Young drove a bouncing hit past second to load the bases, but Winterset couldn’t convert that into a score.

Khylie Wainwright picked up North Scott’s first hit of the game in the fourth inning. The Lancers had bases loaded with one out and Winterset went back to Breeding in the circle. She struck out the next player she faced.

That didn’t stop North Scott’s Shelby Spears, who hit a single to score Adalynn Johnson. The Lancers went up, 1-0, after four.

But the lead didn’t last long. Neela Applegate’s solo homerun tied the game, and then later in the frame, Ashlynn Devine’s base hit scored Allie Soderberg, with only one out.

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“I feel like it’s just such a magical field,” said Applegate, who hit a home run to win last year’s state championship. “In that moment, I was just trying to get something going for my team, get them hyped up to score, because, at that point, we were down.”

North Scott kept Winterset from adding another run, and then Sydney Skarich capitalized on an error to tie it at two in their half of the inning.

Young kicked off the fifth inning with a base hit, which put the Huskies in a position to retake the lead. Breeding scored Mya Adkins — Young’s courtesy runner — and Applegate, and Winterset went up 4-2 in the fifth.

The Huskies' defense held off North Scott and, in the sixth, Avary Darling scored to give Winterset a three-run lead with one inning left.

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With one out in the top of the seventh but bases loaded, Wainwright drove Skarich in to cut the deficit to two. The Lancers had two outs and runners on second and third and could have taken the lead with one swing of the bat. But a fly out to right field landed in Devine’s waiting glove, and the game was over.

Winterset did the unlikely and won the championship as one of the lowest seeds in the tournament. But, for Applegate, it wasn't that much of a surprise to have the bottom two seeds compete for a title.

“Our conference is so strong, and it helped us get to this point,” Applegate said. “4A softball is legit.”

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Winterset softball holds off North Scott for second straight title