—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla West Liberty’s Austyn Crees slides around Treynor’s Sydni Huisman during a 3A quarterfinal on Tuesday at Rogers Park. For more photos, visit CU at messengernews.net

West Liberty’s “year of firsts” continued here Tuesday at the state softball tournament.

The No. 4 Comets picked up a 10-0 victory in five innings over No. 7 Treynor to advance to the Class 3A semifinals at Rogers Park.

West Liberty (29-5 overall) will meet No. 2 Louisa-Muscatine on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

During the regular season, the Comets won their first-ever River Valley Conference title and punched their first state ticket with a win over No. 8 Anamosa in the regional finals.

With the West Liberty bats hitting on all cylinders, Isabelle True was able to silence Treynor, tossing the 55th no-hitter at state. The senior was just one misplayed ball away from the 14th perfect game at Rogers Park.

Now, she’ll meet her old team in the semis in Louisa-Muscatine. True helped lead them to the 2A state title a year ago, becoming the captain of the all-tournament team in the process.

“It’s going to be awkward and intense,” said the Kirkwood recruit. “But it’s just another ballgame.”

In the third, West Liberty posted three runs as Austyn Crees connected on a double to the fence to score Sailor Hall with Crees coming around on an error.

Janey Gingerich followed with the third base hit of the inning to score Macy Akers, who has signed with the University of Northern Iowa.

Haylee Lehman, a future University of Drake Bulldog, had a shot at an inside-the-park home run, after belting a ball past Treynor’s centerfielder who was playing in. Lehman, though, settled for an RBI-triple and scored on a passed ball.

West Liberty put the game out of reach in the fourth with six runs, as Isabel Morrison had a bases clearing three-RBI double to the outfield fence. Lehman, Crees and Akers combined for six hits, six runs and two RBI.

“It’s the first time here so we just had to get the nerves out,” True said. “I’m glad to be back and glad to be having success.”

For Treynor (30-4), the appearance at state softball is part of a season of success for the Cardinals as they qualified for state in volleyball, won the 2A state basketball title and had top finishes at state in cross country and track.

WEST LIBERTY 10,

TREYNOR 0 (5 inn.)

Treynor 000 00 — 0 0 2

West Liberty 003 61 — 10 10 1

WP–Isabelle True (17-1, 5 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 4 K, 0 BB); LP–Sydni Huisman (28-3, 4 1/3 IP, 10 H, 10 ER, 7 K, 3 BB); 2B–WL: Austyn Crees, Macy Akers, Isabel Morrison. RBI–WL: Austyn Crees, Janey Gingerlich, Isabelle True, Haylee Lehman, Isabel Morrison (3). 3B–WL: Haylee Lehman.