The chance to capture their second title in three seasons starts up today for the Louisa-Muscatine softball team, as they open up the class 2A state tournament with a quarterfinal matchup against Underwood in Fort Dodge.

The #2 seeded Falcons (18-5) punched their ticket to a third straight state tournament when they downed Wilton 5-2 on Monday in a regional final. All five runs came in the second including a three-run bomb off the bat of McKenna Hohenadel that proved to be the game-winner. Hailey Sanders was her normal self in the circle throwing a complete game and retired the final 14 batters she saw. The senior veteran has posted a 0.81 ERA in 95 innings of work on the season and sister Kylee Sanders leads the offense with a .587 batting average and 15 RBI. 

The #7 seeded Eagles (14-4) finished second in the Western Iowa Conference in the shortened 2020 campaign. Underwood defeated West Monona 8-4 in the regional final including Ella Pierce throwing a complete game giving up two earned tallies. The junior has put together a strong season in the circle with a 1.32 earned run average in 85 innings and she also leads the bats with a .409 BA and 13 RBI. 

Falcon head coach Bryan Butler tells KCII Sports a few keys for his team in order to have a long week. “If Hailey is on in the circle, that will really separate us from the pack. She has the confidence and is one of the best pitcher’s in the state so relying on her to keep the opponent’s run total down will give our offense an opportunity. Also, we need to make adjustments at the plate. Every pitcher we see will be different this week so we have to be able to adjust.”

The quarterfinal is scheduled to get underway at 4:30 p.m. this evening at Harlan Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge. Listen to all of the action on AM and FM KCII, kciiradio.com, or the free KCII Mobile Apps starting at 4 p.m.