PRATT -- Through the first two games at the Class 2-1A state softball tournament, Oskaloosa coach Aubree Harsh was happy but a little puzzled.
The Bears won both games but by the slimmest of margins. Harsh said she thought the Bears were playing tight and tense at Green Sports Complex, which is somewhat understandable, since it was the state tournament.
And then playing for the state championship? If the first two games were full of pressure, how would the Bears react in the most pressure-filled game of the season?
Pretty well, as it turns out. Oskaloosa saved its best softball for last, and the Bears claimed their first state title by beating Inman 8-1.
Oskaloosa (25-5), the No. 5 seed, barely survived the first two games. Thursday, the Bears nudged past Central Heights 3-1. Then in Friday’s semifinals, they used a late suicide squeeze bunt to score the game’s only run in a 1-0 win over Dexter/Cedar Vale.
The Bears were winning, but they weren’t at their best.
“We were a little emotional in games one and two, but I felt we released everything in the championship game and just played,” Harsh said. “We came out, said we were going to have fun, and we did that.”
Oskaloosa's Keirstyn Mitchell is mobbed by teammates during the Bears' quarterfinal win over Central Heights on Thursday,
The tight games, admittedly, were a common trend for the entire tournament through the first two rounds. In the six games played prior to the third-place game, the average margin of victory was 1.3 runs.
Inman’s first-round and semifinal wins -- 7-6 over St. Mary’s Colgan and 2-1over Bluestem -- came in extra innings and in walk-off fashion.
“These games were amazing,” Harsh said. “To come here and see all this great competition? We really had some girls step up.”
The one who stepped up the most was sophomore pitcher Lily Pullen. After missing about half the season with broken ribs, she slowly came back and was at her best in the postseason.
Oskaloosa allowed just three runs in six postseason wins, including two in Pratt.
Oskaloosa's Lily Pullen brings a pitch to the plate during Thursday's quarterfinal win.
Pullen limited a powerful Inman lineup to one run on three hits. She walked one and struck out 12.
“It really made me love the game of softball even more,” Pullen said about being injured. “It was kind of nerve-wracking coming back, though. I’m still nervous about sliding and diving.”
Oskaloosa's Maddie Farmer catches a pop-up in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Oskaloosa's Lydia Turner throws to first base during the quarterfinals.
While Pullen still has occasional nerves about her ribs, and while Oskaloosa may have been a little tight in its first two games, all those nerves disappeared early against Inman. Before the second-seeded Teutons batted, Oskaloosa led 2-0 on the back of an RBI double from Keirstyn Mitchell and an RBI single from Harper Heston.
Inman (24-2) got one back in the bottom of the third, as Allison Schrag doubled and scored on Maddison Parsons’ double.
But Oskaloosa immediately answered, as Lydia Turner belted a two-out, two-run single in the top of the fourth inning, pushing the lead to 4-1.
Mitchell’s two-run inside-the-park home run the next inning sparked a three-run frame, and Karleigh Warriner’s inside-the-park home run in the sixth inning was the final run.
It was a tough ending for an Inman team also looking to win its first softball title, but progress was made. Last season, a young Inman team finished in fourth place. Most of the team is expected back next season, including sophomore pitcher Lyla Levin, who was 7 for 11 at the plate in Pratt and also had two complete-game wins.
“We came here last year and got fourth, and we weren’t happy with that,” said Inman coach Bre Ryan, who played for Inman’s state runner-up team in 2007. “We looked for improvement this year, and we got that. I really appreciate this team’s fight, their grit and their determination.”
Inman's Lyla Levin celebrates with teammates after her walkoff hit in the quarterfinals vs. Colgan.
Oskaloosa can say the same, especially Pullen. It was a long journey back for Pullen, and for the Bears, the journey was a little unexpected.
Two-time reigning state champion McLouth was assigned to the same regional as Oskaloosa, but McLouth’s only loss of the season came in the regional semifinals to Rossville, which Oskaloosa beat to clinch a spot at state.
“As the season went on, I knew we could do it,” Pullen said. “And when McLouth lost in regionals, and we beat Rossville, I thought, ‘This really could happen for us.’”