State champion Sabers honored by IGCA

Jul. 27—OTTUMWA — The state champion Twin Cedars Sabers had four members of their 1A title-winning softball team honored as all-district selections by the Iowa Girls Coaches Association.

Grace Bailey, Rylee Dunkin, Jillian French and Ali Mockenhaupt were selected to the Class 1A South Central all-district team while Zack Dunkin was named the district's coach of the year by the IGCA. The 1A South Central All-District team also a trio of Sigourney Savages with Carly Goodwin, Courtney Hemsley and Josephine Moore being named to the team along with Moravia junior Destiny Nathaniel.

Bailey closed out her prep career in style, leading the Sabers to the school's first-ever 1A state softball championship both in the pitching circle and at the plate. The future DMACC Bear recorded a 21-3 pitching record with a 1.20 ERA over 122 1/3 innings, striking out 110 batters over 25 starts and 27 pitching appearances. Bailey also led Twin Cedars at the plate with 53 hits, including 27 extra-base hits, with eight home runs and 48 runs driven in. Bailey was named captain of the All-Tournament team in the Class 1A state tournament, picking up two pitching wins including an eight-inning shutout of Lisbon while connecting on a team-leading six hits, including the game-winning two-run home run that beat Lisbon, 2-0, in the state quarterfinals.

Dunkin, a five-sport athlete for the Sabers including a three-time state medal winner in the 1A girls state cross-country meet, capped her busy and successful year earning Class 1A all-district and all-tournament honors as the starting catcher and lead-off hitter for the first state championship-winning softball team that Twin Cedars has ever produced. Dunkin scored a team-leading 46 runs and stealing a team-best 33 bases.

After 11 seasons as head coach of the program and several seasons previously spent as an assistant coach under his father, Zach Dunkin became a state championship-winning coach this past summer guiding the Sabers to a somewhat surprising run to the 1A softball title achieving a career milestone in a 6-3 win over Southeast Warren in the state finals. The victory was Dunkin's 200th of his head-coaching career, bringing a historic season to a close as Twin Cedars finished 29-3, returning to state for the first time since 1978 before winning the program's first state championship and second-overall state title in school history.

French and Mockenhaupt both played key roles in guiding the Sabers to the program's first state championship. French saved the best for last as the sophomore earned a place on the 1A All-Tournament team after driving in four of the six runs scored by Twin Cedars in the state finals against Southeast Warren including a two-run home run and a two-run double while Mockenhaupt earned the win in the championship game in the pitching circle coming to relieve Bailey after two innings after Southeast Warren had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, allowing just two runs over the next four innings to the Warhawks.

In Class 4A, Fairfield teammates Hannah Simpson and Coty Engle were honored on the all-southeast district team. Simpson finished as one of the top-five batters in Class 4A, becoming one of the top power threats in the entire state while nearly guiding the Trojans to a state tournament berth by nearly taking down eventual state champion Winterset in the regional finals while Engle led Fairfield in runs scored and pitching wins, nearly out dueling all-tournament pitcher Thea Banning in a 4-3 regional final loss to top-ranked Winterset.

Simpson, who will join Banning at Indian Hills Community College next season, finished third in 4A in on-base percentage (.633), fourth in slugging percentage (.945) and fifth in batting average (.523). The senior first baseman led Fairfield to a 29-win season with a team-best 57 hits, 10 home runs, 14 doubles and 50 runs driven in.

Davis County battery mates Madeline Barker (pitcher) and Macy Hill (catcher) were named to the Class 3A All-Southeast district team after helping the Mustangs advance to the state softball tournament for the first time in program history. Addison Halstead and Sydney Hoskins, another one of the South Central Conference's top pitcher-catcher combinations, were also selected to the all-district team as was Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont senior catcher Rylee German.

The Cardinal Comets were honored for a 22-win season with three players earning all-district honors by the IGCA in the Class 2A Southeast District. Caitlyn Reber, Emma Becker and Nicoa McClure earned all-district accolades after leading the Comets back to a Class 2A regional final coming up just short of a state tournament berth with Becker and McClure, the team's top pitcher, both set to return next season looking to lead Cardinal back to state for the first time since 2005.

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.