Iowa City Regina flexed its offensive firepower early and often and rolled into the Class 2A state title game with an emphatic 13-1 victory over Interstate 35 on the Iowa Central Field at Harlan Rogers Wednesday afternoon.

Two days after escaping No. 8 seed Northeast, 4-3, in the quarterfinals Monday, the Regals exploded for six runs in the first two innings before ending things on a three-run home run by Courtney Kessler in the bottom of the fifth.

Regina, now 29-8, moves into the championship game for the seventh time. The Regals won state titles in 2011, 2015, 2017 and last year. They played in four straight title games from 2015 to 2018.

“We just talked about playing our game and staying patient,” said Regina coach Angela Kessler. “We talked about that when we were hitting (Wednesday) morning and when we got here. We took that to heart and definitely exploded at the plate. Every batter was executing. That was fun to watch.”

Regina will take on Van Meter in Friday’s 2A championship game at 5 p.m. It’s a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal round game, won 6-5 by the Regals.

The Regals banged out 14 hits on Wednesday, including a 4-for-4 performance from Kessler, who finished with six RBI. Dani Laughlin was also 4-for-4 and scored four runs.

All that offense backed up pitcher Ashley Webb, who tossed a three-hitter with seven strikeouts.

“We just wanted to take one game at a time, but we’re so excited to get back to the title game,” said Webb, who will play Ferris State next year. “We seniors have been trying to be leaders. We are playing our best ball right now, and that’s when you should be peaking.”

Kessler’s six RBI are a new record for a Class 2A tournament game. Four others held the record with five RBI.

“We really don’t feel a lot of pressure,” Webb said about this year’s team living up to past expectations. “We just want to play our game.”

Regina plated four runs in the first inning to take command early.

The Regals added two in the second and four more in the fourth. That included a two-run single from Gabby Sueppel.

Interstate 35 (26-13) got its only run in the fourth on an RBI single from Katie Murphy.

The only other threat was the third when they loaded the bases with one out, but Webb got a strikeout and fly out to escape the jam.

“That was all about keeping the momentum,” said Kessler. “Our mindset there was to grind out every single pitch and then every at bat.”

Regina ended it in the fifth when Kessler launched the ball over the centerfield fence to score Dani Laughlin and Alli Clark. It was Kessler’s third home run of the season.

Three other seniors will play college ball next year along with Webb. Laughlin will play at Texas State, Kessler is headed to Minnesota State and Jillian Panther will play for Wartburg.

IOWA CITY REGINA 13,

INTERSTATE 35 1

Interstate 35 000 10 — 1

Iowa City Regina 420 43 — 13

LOB–Interstate 35 4, Iowa City Regina 4. ERR–Elyse Maxwell, Katie Murphy, Kelsey Morris. 2B–Courtney Kessler. HR–Courtney Kessler. HBP–Cora Keller. SB–Harper Erwin (2), Dani Laughlin. WP–Katie Murphy.