MAC softball teams eye state bids
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By Shannon Heaton | Thursday, July 03, 2008 |
In sum, here is the 2008 softball season, or at least how Mississippi Athletic Conference teams experienced parts of it these past two months.
Assumption beat West twice, and West beat Muscatine. Muscatine beat Assumption and lost to Burlington. Burlington lost to Pleasant Valley but lost — twice — to North Scott. North Scott — which clinched a share of the MAC title Monday night by sweeping Muscatine — also beat West, but lost to Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley. Bettendorf beat West and Muscatine, but lost to Assumption. West did well against schools named Valley, defeating both the Pleasant and No. 1-ranked West Des Moines varieties, but only went 1-2 against schools with Iowa City addresses.
Got all that?
It’s that kind of competition that could see four MAC teams qualify for the state tournament in Fort Dodge in two weeks’ time, the kind of competition that prepares teams for the increased stakes that go with postseason tournament play.
Hopefully it’s not the kind of competition that leaves a team too battered to contend successfully in region-level play, which kicks off today with Class 1A and 2A first-round games and continues through July 10.
Assumption’s Bob Matthys hopes his 10-player squad will hold up as the Knights — ranked sixth in the final 3A state poll — open the tournament Thursday with a 5 p.m. home date against Anamosa.
“We’ve played something like 16 games in nine days. Our girls are tired,” Matthys said of the Knights on Monday, as they wrapped up the regular season with — what else? — a split with visiting Pleasant Valley.
“We feel pretty confident, though. We’re hitting the ball well, we’re scoring runs. We’ve played all three teams we’d face before the finals
(9-0 over potential quarterfinal opponent Camanche, which co-ops with Clinton’s Prince of Peace Academy;
1-0 over Central DeWitt and
3-1 over Maquoketa). Obviously, Clear Creek-Amana (the top-ranked team in 3A) is the team we’d need to take care of to reach our goals. I’ve talked with their coach, and we’re both disappointed that the state put us in the same region.”
While Assumption’s path is relatively well-defined, up to three MAC schools could find their way to Fort Dodge. Most of the conference is situated in Region 7, which opens Saturday night at Bettendorf with a doubleheader: Central vs. North at 6 p.m. and the host Bulldogs, ranked 13th in Class 4A, against Clinton following, approximately at 7:30.
No. 4 North Scott and No. 14 West await the winners in Monday’s semifinals, with both the Lancers and Falcons having home games during that round. West will also host the final Wednesday.
Muscatine could get to state without having to leave home next week. The Muskies, ranked fifth in 4A, are guaranteed at least one home game Monday night in the Region 8 semifinals and could get a rubber match with No. 6 Burlington in Wednesday night’s final.
10th-ranked Pleasant Valley becomes a road warrior starting Saturday in the Region 6 quarterfinals, with an away match at Cedar Rapids Kennedy. The Spartans only get as close as Eldridge before possibly qualifying for state; with a win Saturday, PV will get a second shot against Dubuque Senior at North Scott, just before their MAC rival Lancers take the diamond against either Clinton or Bettendorf.
The Spartans could travel to Linn-Mar, where a region final against the host Lionesses is very much a possibility. However, coach Lori Osterberg was able to get a look at what’s ahead.
“It was nice being able to see Kennedy play Linn-Mar; it was our only day off last week (last Tuesday) and so we were able to get some film on both teams,” Osterberg said. “The one thing about the postseason is, the more prepared you are, the more confident you are during the games.”
Of the area schools, Durant-Bennett — ranked 14th in Class 2A — has the best chance on paper to qualify for state, with possibly three Region 7 games at home, including a first-rounder against Tipton tonight, before the championship in Solon on July 10. Durant-Bennett is the only ranked team in the 16-team Region 7 field. All five local teams in Class 1A compete in Region 6, also starting tonight.
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