The first area summer team to celebrate a state berth is the Sigourney softball squad when they utilized a fast start to move past Belle Plaine 6-3 last night in a class 1A region 5 final.

As heard on KCII, the Savages got the start they wanted in their final game at Schafer Field when Kaylee Weber ticketed a pitch to deep center field for a two run shot in the first. The score was stretched to 3-0 in the second when Ava Fisch brought in a run on a groundout and they plated two more in the fourth after RBI knocks from the bottom of the order in Reagan Rozenboom and Dani Aller. The Plainsmen (17-17) got new life in the fifth when they took advantage of Sigourney miscues to plate three to cut the deficit to 5-3. Remarkably, this was the first time Sigourney has surrendered any runs since June 19th, but the Belle Plaine momentum never phased Carly Goodwin. The freshman phenom pitcher went six up, six down in the final two innings to send the Savages to Fort Dodge for the first time since 2017. Goodwin tossed a complete game giving up three runs (no earned), four hits, three walks, and striking out five. Weber led a 10-hit offense going 2-for-3 with two RBI and Courtney Hemsley was 2-for-3 with one RBI. 

The senior Weber broke down the home run bomb in the first. “It felt really good off the bat and then I saw the center fielder looking like she was going to make a play on it. I thought, ‘No way, please don’t rob that,’ and then it went over. I was ecstatic and screaming around the bases. We made a goal at the beginning of the season to make it to state as a family. We were definitely a family and to now make state, tops it all off. It is an amazing feeling.”

The Savages are now 25-8 and will open the state tournament in the quarterfinal round on Monday. Time and opponent has yet to be determined.