Fort Dodge Iowa — 31-3 Boyden Hull Rock Valley opens State Softball Tournament play against 29-13 Center Point Urbana at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon in the Class 3A quarterfinals. It’s a match up of state ranked teams with the Nighthawks #7 in the final poll and the Stormin Ponters ranked number 8.
Boyden Hull Rock Valley comes into the game hitting .397 as a team compared to .326 for Center Point Urbana. Both teams hit for power with the Nighthawks hitting 20 home runs as a team and the Stormin Pointers hitting 28 on the season. The running game has been effective for both teams as well. Boyden Hull Rock Valley has been successful on 88-of-91 stolen base attempts with Center Point Urbana converting 77-of-83 attempts.
Individually senior CJ Van Der Zwaag leads the Nighthawks with a .514 batting average and an on base percentage of .561. She’s driven in 48 runs hitting 4 home runs on the season. Freshman Maddie Karr leads Center Point Urbana with a .440 batting average and .545 on base percentage. She leads her team with 16 home runs and 54 rbi’s.
Boyden Hull Rock Valley has the pitching edge with a team ERA of .166 compared to .230 for Center Point. CJ Van Der Zwaag boasts a .49 ERA with a 29-1 record and 221 strike outs on the year against just 32 walks. Senior Samantha Croghan leads the pitching staff for Center Point. While putting together a 17-8 record she has pitched to a 2.08 ERA striking out 87 while walking 15.
State Softball Tournament coverage begins with pregame at 3:20 Tuesday afternoon for a 3:30 scheduled first pitch from Fort Dodge. Stino brings you the coverage on KIWA FM 105.3. We’ll stream from the website as well at www.kiwaradio.com.
