Williamsburg holds off Davenport Assumption to earn second-straight Iowa softball state title

FORT DODGE — One year after winning the school’s first softball state championship, Williamsburg did it again.

The No. 2-seeded Raiders took on No. 4 Davenport Assumption – a rematch of last season’s title game – on Friday in hopes of being the only team in this year’s tournament to repeat as champions.

And that’s exactly what Williamsburg did, taking down the Knights, 12-9, in the Class 3A Iowa high school softball state title game.

“The last one was the first one for (our) school and (our) community,” Williamsburg coach Adam Berte said postgame. “We were preseason number one, but because of the kids we graduated, I don’t know that too many people really thought we could do it again.”

But this season’s title didn’t come as easy as it did last year.

Williamsburg came out strong in the opening inning. Sophomore pitcher Jersey Metz and company allowed four hitters to cycle through for Assumption but didn’t give up any runs.

The Raiders wasted little time adding runs to the scoreboard. Carly Rich scored the first run of the game off an Alley Gorsh single, then the Raiders picked up two more off Taylor Sanchez’s bat.

That all occurred with only one out on the board.

Williamsburg added three more runs before the end of the first frame for a commanding six-run lead.

"They do a pretty good job of trying to focus on the next play...not necessarily something that happened before,” Berte said. “We had games where we’d get big leads early, but you wouldn’t necessarily stretch it out and finish. This was another one of those games.”

Assumption tightened up the defense in the second. The Knights held Williamsburg without a run in the bottom of the inning and cut into the Raiders’ lead by two runs.

The Knights seemed to be on a comeback tour, adding another run in the top of the third inning.

But Williamsburg wasn’t satisfied with a three-run advantage. With two outs on the board, the Raiders managed to get two on base and a double from Shannon Finn allowed Williamsburg to increase its lead by two.

The Raiders or, more specifically, Sanchez broke the game open in the fourth.

After a scoreless top of the inning from Assumption, Williamsburg extended its lead even more when the freshman infielder soared a three-run home run over the center field fence, giving the Raiders an 11-3 lead.

"We knew she’d be good,” Berte said of Sanchez’s performance in the tournament. “She was ready last year but we kind of held her back because we had a senior at second base. In tournament play, she’s probably our best hitter.

“It wasn’t unexpected; we knew she had that in her. It was just a matter of doing it.”

That comfortable eight-run lead didn’t last long, though.

In the top of the fifth inning – which included a Williamsburg pitching change – Assumption piled on six runs off three hits. Molly Roe sent a triple into center field – with two outs on the board and bases loaded – to move the Knights within two of Williamsburg.

The Raiders picked up one additional run in the bottom of the sixth, but Williamsburg’s lead didn’t feel all that safe anymore.

Three up, three down on both sides made for a scoreless sixth inning – the first of the game.

The score remained 12-9 through the end of the seventh to let the Raiders walk away with the state championship trophy.

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel .

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Williamsburg holds off Davenport Assumption to earn second-straight Iowa softball state title