By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
The Johnston Dragons completed a perfect season Saturday with a 6-2 win over Central Iowa Metropolitan League rival Marshalltown. The Dragons became the first undefeated Class 4-A state champion in Iowa high school history, finishing the season 40-0.
Johnston scored four times in the third inning, and then kept the Bobcats from scoring in the fourth inning, despite loading the bases. Marshalltown did cut the margin to 4-2 in the fifth inning with a two-out double by T.J. Flanagan to plate one run.
But the Dragons finished off the Bobcats in the seventh, thanks to a walk and a hit batter. Ryan McCauley led the offense for Johnston with three hits, while pitchers Reid Jewell and Ryan Torgerson combined on a three-hitter.
Johnston won state for the second time and first since 1977. A CIML school has won the 4-A state championship every year since 1995.
Marshalltown was the seventh seed in the tournament and finished the season 27-13. The Bobcats were seeking their sixth state championship in their first appearance since 2002.
3-A Baseball: Centerville's Jay Schmidt One-Hits Harlan in Finals
The 10th one-hitter in Iowa state championship baseball lifted Centerville to a Class 3-A title on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Harlan.
Jay Schmidt was the star on the mound, not allowing a hit until the seventh inning in Saturday's 1-0 state championship victory. Brett Stein's bouncer through the third base-shortstop hole kept Schmidt from getting what would have been the fourth no-hitter in a state championship game.
The game ended controversially after Harlan’s Nathan Bruck stole second while running for Stein. Bruck advanced to third on a fly ball hit to Centerville centerfielder Jordan McCoy for the second out. But the base umpire ruled that Bruck had left second too soon, declared him out and the game was over.
“You could see he left a little early,” Harlan coach Steve Daeges told the Des Moines Register. “He'd have been in by plenty, but he got a little antsy."
Earlier this season, Harlan lost the state boys basketball Class 3-A championship game in another controversial finish. Two seconds were replaced on the clock in the final moments of the contest, allowing Dubuque Wahlert's Eric May the chance to sink a 35-foot shot at the buzzer for a 70-67 win.
2-A Baseball: Assumption Gets Revenge on Cherokee
Davenport Assumption won the Class 2-A state baseball championship Saturday by exacting some revenge on the team that kept it from winning the state title last year.
Assumption's 4-2 victory over Cherokee in Des Moines seemed to sweeten a bitter taste the Knights left Iowa's capital city with after a 5-4 loss to the Braves last year at this same time.
However, the Knights (35-8) won't be back to defend next summer, because the school is moving back to Class 3-A. The perennial baseball power should be just fine, as they have captured five state titles at that level.
The loss for Cherokee was the Braves' first loss to a 2-A school since falling to Emmetsburg last year. At 30-2, Cherokee's only other loss this summer was to Class 4-A's Sioux City East.
1-A Baseball: North Sentral Kossuth Claims Class 1-A Crown
Third-ranked North Sentral Kossuth defeated fifth-rated Gilbertville-Don Bosco 6-1 on Saturday for the Class 1-A state baseball championship, thanks in part to a complete-game effort on the mound by pitcher Shaun McGuire.
McGuire allowed just one run on six hits in seven innings pitched for the Eagles. He ran his season record to 11-2 by striking out eight Don Bosco batters.
The Dons scored their only run of the game in the second inning, but the Eagles answered with four runs in their half of the second inning. North Sentral Kossuth scored two more runs later in the game with the help of Don Bosco errors.
NSK won the state championship in its first appearance in the state finals. It lost in its only other state appearance last year and now owns a state tournament record of 3-1. Sentral High School was 2-2 in the state tournament before the merging with North Kossuth, including a second place finish in 2006. North Kossuth had a 7-2 mark in the state tournament, including state titles in 1996 and 1997.
Don Bosco was seeking its second state championship in its third appearance at state. The Waterloo-area Catholic school claimed a state championship in 1978, lost in an appearance in 1995 before this summer's run to the finals. The Dons are now 5-2 in the state baseball tournament.
