Van Meter softball hits milestone win, baseball falls to Chariton

This week marked the end of the road for one Van Meter team while opening an exciting path for another.

Softball (40-1)

Van Meter had one more opportunity to reach for 40 wins this season. A loss on Monday against Treynor would keep the Bulldogs at 39 wins and out of the state tournament.

But there was little doubt of a loss en route to a 6-2 win in the regional championship, making the Bulldogs the first team in the entire state to hit 40 wins this year (the last team to hit that mark was Assumption and North Linn in 2021, and that required state tournament games).

Now the Bulldogs have their eyes on three more wins to bring home the state title to avenge last year’s championship game loss to Regina Catholic. Winning three more games would give Van Meter the most wins for an Iowa softball team since Assumption went 45-0 in 2017.

Holding the top overall seed in the 2A bracket, the Bulldogs will face eight-seed West Fork (18-7) on Tuesday at 12:15 p.m. A run at the state title will likely run through second seeded Northeast (27-7) or third-seed Audubon (27-4). The title game is held Friday evening.

Baseball (23-4)

The Bulldogs’ season was cut short, falling to Chariton (23-4) at home on Saturday in the district title game, leaving Van Meter two wins shy of reappearing in the state tournament.

Just like last year’s substate championship loss to Pella Christian, Friday’s loss ended in extra innings, with the Chargers knocking in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning 6-5.