Northwest Iowa — Boyden Hull Rock Valley and Sioux Center open State Tournament softball play on Tuesday in Fort Dodge. The Nighthawks open at 11:00 am Tuesday morning against Albia while the Warriors begin their run at 11:30 against Mt. Vernon.
Boyden Hull Rock Valley is ranked #2 going in and will take a 32-2 record into the quarterfinals against the Lady Dees of Albia who come in at 28-8 and ranked #7 in the eight team field.
The Nighthawks are on a 17 game winning steak while the Lady Dees have won 5 straight and 8 of their last 10 games. BHRV boast a team batting average of .384 with four players hitting .400 or better. They are led by Senior Sammy Blum with a .495 average.
The pitching staff has pitched to a team era of .159 led by Junior Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag who has gone 31-2 on the season. In 195 1/2 innings she has an era of 0.93 striking out 289 and walking 27 while hitting just 3 batters.
Comparison numbers for Albia show a team batting average of .341 and a team era of .175. Junior Hannah Isley leads the offense with a .430 average including 8 home runs on the season. Freshman Jena Lawrence leads the pitching staff with a 1.79 era with 241 strikeouts against 57 walks.
Sioux Center enters State as the #3 seed with a record of (23-6). Mt. Vernon counters with a record of (28-15) as the #6 seed. Sioux Center has a team batting average of .390 led by Junior Shayla Post hitting .532 and Senior Jessica Harald hitting .526.
The team era is at 2.69 led by Senior Hannah Dykshorn with an era of 2.75. She has struck out 75 and walked 15.
Mt. Vernon brings a team batting average of .331 led by Senior Libby Ryan hitting .485. Sophomore Madi Speed tops the pitching staff with an era of 3.38. She has struck out 56 and walked 31.
The 3A semifinals will be on Thursday afternoon with the consolations on Wednesday morning and early afternoon.
