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Humboldt can’t stop No. 1 Assumption

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Jori Hajek of Humboldt tags Davenport Assumption Lea Nelson during class 3A on Wednesday

Doug Van Pelt summed it up perfectly after his fourth-ranked Humboldt softball team was bested by No. 1 Davenport Assumption here Wednesday.

“They are the best team in the state for a reason — in any class,” Van Pelt said. “They’d won 55 games in a row at one point earlier this year, and just one team has beat them in over two years.”

The Knights scored a 9-1 victory over the Wildcats on Diamond 2 at Rogers Park, advancing to the finals to defend their crown. Davenport Assumption (38-3) now meets No. 9 Roland-Story (30-4) on Friday at 3:30 p.m. on Buena Vista University Diamond for gold.

“They are great at every position,” Van Pelt said. “You have to play mistake-free with them, because if you don’t, they’ll burn you.

“We competed and had some nice plays in the field, but we made some mistakes and they took advantage.”

Hannah Kelley earned the win for the Knights, improving to 22-1 on the year with three strikeouts and just a lone hit allowed. She also drove in two, with Anna Wohlers going 4-for-4 with a solo home run and four RBI.

“This is what we’ve all been working for,” Kelley said. “We are one more step in the right direction to the state championship game. These games are all win-or-go-home and we have been playing with that in the back of our minds.”

Alli Timmons, the sister of former Assumption all-stater and current Drake Bulldog Nicole Timmons, picked up five strikeouts over the final two-plus innings inside the circle.

The Wildcats (31-4) advanced to the first semifinal in school history when they bested Atlantic on Monday night in front of a large crowd of supporters. They’ll face against second-ranked Albia (32-5) on Friday at 2:30 p.m. for third as they look to add to the fifth place trophy captured last season.

Kendal Clark drove in Alexis Hansen for the lone run in the second. Ellie Jacobson reached twice on walks, with Addie Birdsell, Rachel Darling and Carlie Thompson also working the count in their favors.

“We had it 2-1 with a runner on and we just couldn’t get that key hit to get her in,” Van Pelt said. “We were disciplined and drew walks, but we just couldn’t get that big hit early on. I’m proud of the way our kids competed and continued to compete all game long.”

DAVENPORT ASSUMPTION 9, HUMBOLDT 1

Humboldt 010 000 0 — 1 1 5

Assumption 202 023 x — 9 12 0

WP–Hannah Kelley (22-1, 4.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 3 BB); LP–Ellie Jacobson (29-3, 6 IP, 12 H, 7 ER, 4 K, 2 BB.

HR–DA: Anna Wohlers. 2B-DA: Anna Wohlers. RBI–H: Kendal Clark; DA: Anna Wohlers (4), Hannah Kelley (2), Nicole Yoder.

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