Prep softball: Lady Dee softball season ends at state

FORT DODGE — The hopes of bringing home the program's second 3A state softball title ended for Albia at the hands of a team that has won the last two 2A state championships.

>For the second time in three days, big blows by the bats of Van Meter proved to be too much for the Lady Dees to overcome. Jilly Wosmansky delivered a go-ahead three-run home run in the third inning for the sixth-ranked Bulldogs while Annie Netten added a two-run homer in the top of the seventh, clinching a 7-2 win over third-ranked Albia advancing to the final four of the Class 3A state softball tournament on Wednesday.

>"We knew we were going to have to play a nearly perfect game to win and we didn't do that," Albia head softball coach Larry Achenbach said. "We had some base-running mistakes, they had big hits when they needed them and that was the difference."

>Van Meter (34-7) advanced to face No. 2 Dubuque Walhert (37-6) later on Wednesday afternoon on Iowa Central Field inside the Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex. To make it to the Class 3A state championship game, the reigning two-time 2A state champs needed to beat Walhert twice.

>Albia, meanwhile, brings the curtain down on one of the best seasons in program history. The Lady Dees finished with an overall 33-3 record, one victory shy of the most in any single season for an Albia softball team.

>"We have nothing to hang our heads about," Achenbach said. "It was a really good season. We battled to the end. We stayed up until the end. We didn't stop fighting. In the end, we came up just a little short of that ultimate goal."