Northwest Iowa — The Boyden Hull Rock Valley softball team will now open Class 3A State Tournament play Wednesday at 5:00 pm. Due to rain in Fort Dodge Tuesday games were rained out. The Nighthawks will enter State Tournament play at 25-7 under Head Coach Sarah Friedrichsen. The Mt. Vernon Mustangs are 29-13 under Head Coach Robin Brand. In the final regular season poll the Nighthawks were ranked #11 with the Mustangs #5.
As a team Boyden Hull Rock Valley enters the State Tourney hitting .312 with Mount Vernon hitting .319. Power numbers favor the Nighthawks with 16 home runs as a team led by Cassie Van Beek and Kaitlyn Vander Zwaag with 7 each. Mount Vernon is led by Libby Ryan with 3. Ryan is hitting .531 on the season with 33 rbi’s, 3 home runs, 9 triples and 6 doubles. Boyden Hull Rock Valley counters with Cassie Van Beek’s team leading .441 batting average. She has driven in 27 runs with 7 home runs, 1 triple and 7 doubles.
The running game favors Mount Vernon. As a team they are 119-of-123 in stolen base attempts led by Ryan who is 76-of-76 going into the State Tournament. Boyden Hull Rock Valley has gone 60-of-62 led by Cassie Van Beek who is 22-of-22 in stolen base attempts.
The pitching numbers favor the Nighthawks with a team era of 2.24 while the Mustangs staff has pitched to a team era of 3.07. Sophomore Kaitlyn Vander Zwwag comes into the tournament with a 24-4 record. With a 1.47 era she has walked 36 batters and struck out 206 on the season. Senior Lily Dahlstrom leads Mount Vernon with a 22-8 record and a 2.85 era. She has walked 44 and struck out 92 batters on the season.
The quarterfinal winner will move on to the semifinals on Thursday afternoon at 1:30 in Fort Dodge.
