Roosevelt, Lincoln, Urbandale advance to Class 5A high school softball regional semifinals

Cody Goodwin, Des Moines Register
·4 min read

A pair of Des Moines city schools won their softball postseason openers on Thursday night … by beating two other Des Moines city schools.

The Roosevelt softball team throttled North, 12-0, and advanced to the Class 5A-Region 1 semifinals against No. 12 Waukee. Lincoln topped East, 7-2, in the 5A-Region 3 opener, and will face No. 2 Johnston in the regional semifinals.

Urbandale was the other local large-class team in action, 7-6 winners over Ottumwa in 5A-Region 4. Urbandale led 3-0 after the first inning and 6-0 after five. Ottumwa rallied to tie with a 6-run sixth inning, but the J-Hawks walked off in the seventh.

All the winners from Thursday night, in both Class 5A and 4A, advanced to Saturday’s regional semifinals, another step closer to the 2022 state softball tournament, set for July 18-22 in Fort Dodge.

Here’s a quick rundown of what happened in Class 5A Thursday night:

Roosevelt’s offensive outburst — the Riders’ 12 runs was the eighth time this season they’ve scored 10-plus runs — was fueled by senior Rylee Jones, who went 2-for-2 with a double and 3 RBI, and freshman Isabelle Huggins, who went 1-for-2 with 2 RBI.

The 5A-Region 2 game between Sioux City North and Sioux City West was moved to Friday at 5 p.m. due to continued rain.

With its win over East on Thursday, Lincoln is now 21-19 overall this summer, which includes a 15-1 record against the other Des Moines city schools.

More than half of Urbandale’s offensive output on Thursday came from eighth-grader Tatum Johnson, who went 2-for-3 with a home run — her sixth of the year — plus a double and 4 RBI. Urbandale will play No. 6 West Des Moines Valley next.

Topanga Beauregard hit a grand slam in the third inning to lift Cedar Rapids Kennedy to a 7-6 win over Cedar Falls in 5A-Region 5. Kennedy advances to play No. 11 Ankeny.

Waterloo West scored three runs in the first inning and ultimately beat Marshalltown 5-1 in 5A-Region 6. West advances to play No. 5 Ankeny Centennial.

Cedar Rapids Prairie edged Dubuque Senior, 4-1, in 5A-Region 7, and will now play the other Dubuque team, No. 15 Hempstead, on Saturday.

Davenport North topped Davenport Central, 8-7, in the 5A-Region 8 opener. Central rallied from down 4-0 to lead 5-4 in the fifth and 7-5 in the seventh, but North scored three runs to walk-off and advance to play No. 3 Muscatine next.

There were 16 Class 4A regional first-round games scheduled for Thursday. Four were ultimately bumped to Friday due to weather — Denison-Schleswig vs. LeMars in Region 1; Gilbert vs. Webster City in Region 4; Newton vs. Cedar Rapids Xavier in Region 6; Keokuk vs. Fort Madison in Region 7 — but the rest managed to play out.

Here are some quick highlights from Thursday night's action:

  • In Region 2, North Polk clobbered Des Moines Hoover, 11-0, while Glenwood topped Lewis Central, 1-0, thanks to freshman pitcher Allison Koontz’s complete-game shutout.

  • In Region 3, Boone sophomore Erin Ades had a 2-homer, 4-RBI night in the Toreadors’ 12-0 win over Perry while Carroll senior Alyssa Brant struck out seven in a complete-game 10-1 win over Storm Lake.

  • Mason City’s Reggi Spotts smacked a 3-run homer and Adyson Evans went for 3 hits and 4 RBI in the Riverhawks’ 11-1 win over Waverly-Shell Rock in Region 4.

  • In Region 5, Pella junior Kylie Tauke went 5-for-5 at the plate with 2 RBI in the Dutch’s 14-4 win over Oskaloosa while Fairfield’s Delaney Breen recorded 4 RBI in a 13-0 win over Mount Pleasant.

  • Marion beat No. 15 Solon, 7-6, in a Region 7 game that featured four total home runs, two from each team: Addie Miller and Tiffany Primmer for Solon; Jazlyn Grosskreutz and Michaela Goad for Marion.

  • Maquoketa’s Carley Cavanagh struck out eight over seven innings in the Cardinals 5-0 win over Decorah in Region 8.

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Roosevelt, Lincoln, Urbandale advance in high school softball playoffs