West Delaware stuns 8th-ranked Northeast, plus more high school softball and baseball postseason results

The road to Fort Dodge for the 2022 state softball tournament truly began this week, with 96 total games across Class 3A, 2A and 1A unfolding on Wednesday night across the state.

The biggest thing that jumped out was the offensive numbers, with 51 games featuring at least one team scoring double-digit runs and 44 ending with teams winning by 10-plus runs.

The highest run total came from Interstate 35. The 5th-ranked Roadrunners soundly beat Panorama 22-0 in the Class 2A Region 4 quarterfinals. The other six teams playing in the other three games in that region scored 23 runs combined.

The second-highest run total came from West Delaware in its stunning 18-5 win over Northeast in the Class 3A Region 7 quarterfinals.

How big was this win?

The Hawks were 6-26 overall entering Wednesday night’s game, a down season after 20-plus games each of the last 15 years. Prior to their postseason opener, they had lost their last five games by a combined 42-8, and were shutout in their last two.

Northeast, on the other hand, was ranked No. 8 in the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s final Class 3A poll. The Rebels were 21-10 overall, and were the strong favorites to win 3A’s Region 7 and advance to Fort Dodge for the state tournament.

Instead, West Delaware pulled the equivalent of the 8-seed beating the 1-seed. Their 18 runs is their highest single-game total since scoring 19 against Benton on June 26, 2019. That was 1,106 days ago (or 3 years, 10 days).

The Hawks, now 7-26 overall, will play Monticello (9-18) in the regional semifinals on Saturday.

Here are more takeaways from Wednesday night’s postseason softball and baseball slate:

South Hardin pulled the only other on-paper upset, using a 4-run fifth inning to beat No. 10 West Fork in the Class 2A Region 2 quarterfinals. They advance to play Grundy Center on Saturday after the Spartans beat Pleasantville 9-1.

Strong pitching performances highlighted much of Wednesday’s softball results:

• Assumption’s Bella Nigey threw a perfect game, retiring all 15 batters and striking out eight in the Knights’ 10-0 win over Anamosa.

• St. Edmond’s Kaili Henning fanned 16 in the Gaels’ 8-1 win over AGWSR.

• Clarinda’s Addison Wagoner, an eighth-grader, struck out nine in an 8-2 win over Red Oak.

• Louisa-Muscatine’s Piper Brant struck out 10 and allowed one hit in a 10-0 win over Camanche.

• North Butler’s Kiya Johnson struck out seven in a complete-game, 8-0 win over Riceville.

• North Union’s Emily Meyer struck out 13 in a complete-game, 8-0 win over Western Christian.

• Sibley-Ocheyedan’s Alayna Wingate struck out 11 in an 11-2 win over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn.

• Grundy Center’s Emma Beck struck out 18 over seven innings in a 9-1 win over Pleasantville.

• Central Springs’ Cooper Klaahsen struck out 14 over five innings in a 10-0 win over Emmetsburg.

• Cascade’s struck out nine over five innings in a 10-0 win over MFL MarMac.

• Sumner-Fredericksburg’s Saela Steege struck out seven over as many innings in a 7-0 win over Oelwein.

The remaining Class 2A and 1A baseball district semifinals were bumped to Wednesday after rain postponed more than half of Tuesday’s scheduled games.

In Class 1A, a couple of ranked teams, No. 5 Don Bosco and No. 8 CAM, rallied to win and advance to Saturday’s district finals.

The Dons at one point trailed 9-3 to Gladbrook-Reinbeck when the game began Tuesday, and were still down 9-5 when the game was suspended until Wednesday. Don Bosco rallied with a 5-run fourth inning and ultimately won, 11-10.

CAM trailed Lenox 4-0 after the top of the first inning, but clawed back to win 7-4. Lane Spieker was the star, striking out 12 and allowing no hits over six innings and blasting two home runs, giving him 13 this season.

Here are all the Class 1A district finals. All games are set for Saturday, July 9.

• District 1: #1 Remsen St. Mary’s (31-0) vs. Gehlen Catholic (21-9)

• District 2: Woodbine (21-4) vs. West Harrison (16-6)

• District 3: Alta-Aurelia (16-9) vs. Bishop Garrigan (18-12)

• District 4: #2 Newman Catholic (30-3) vs. West Hancock (7-13)

• District 5: Nashua-Plainfield (12-13) vs. South Winneshiek (21-8)

• District 6: #4 Kee (35-3) vs. Janesville (17-7)

• District 7: #5 Don Bosco (22-5) vs. North Tama (17-9)

• District 8: Lisbon (22-5) vs. Easton Valley (16-5)

• District 9: #6 North Linn (29-2) vs. Alburnett (17-14)

• District 10: Highland (22-3) vs. Lynnville-Sully (23-2)

• District 11: #3 New London (26-1) vs. Burlington-Notre Dame (15-10)

• District 12: Sigourney (19-5) vs. Moravia (20-6)

• District 13: #9 Ankeny Christian (26-1) vs. Ogden (22-9)

• District 14: #8 CAM (25-2) vs. Lamoni (16-6)

• District 15: #7 Coon Rapids-Bayard (23-7) vs. Tri-Center (18-6)

• District 16: #10 Kingsley-Pierson (24-4) vs. Woodbury Central (19-5)

Here are all the Class 2A district finals. All games are set for Saturday, July 9.

• District 1: Hinton (18-7) vs. West Sioux (12-9)

• District 2: #2 Estherville Lincoln Central (29-2) vs. Spirit Lake (9-16)

• District 3: Pocahontas Area (17-8) vs. Sioux Central (15-9)

• District 4: #1 Van Meter (34-0) vs. Woodward-Granger (10-14)

• District 5: Forest City (16-7) vs. Osage (19-4)

• District 6: #7 Dike-New Hartford (24-3) vs. Grundy Center (20-5)

• District 7: Jesup (19-6) vs. New Hampton (18-14)

• District 8: #4 Beckman Catholic (22-13) vs. Monticello (15-6)

• District 9: #3 Cascade (18-5) vs. Camanche (12-10)

• District 10: Iowa City Regina (14-12) vs. West Liberty (14-12)

• District 11: Van Buren County (12-15) vs. Mid-Prairie (16-10)

• District 12: #6 West Marshall (27-8) vs. Williamsburg (22-13)

• District 13: Davis County (21-11) vs. Centerville (10-18)

• District 14: #10 Des Moines Christian (24-10) vs. Interstate 35 (22-6)

• District 15: #5 Clarinda (21-5) vs. Treynor (15-10)

• District 16: OABCIG (9-10) vs. Kuemper Catholic (18-16)

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: West Delaware's upset win, more high school softball, baseball results