Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Williamsburg players carry the Class 3A state championship trophy off the field at Rogers Park on Friday. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

Just a handful of schools in Iowa can say they’ve won three consecutive state softball championships.

Williamsburg is now in that special group.

The Raiders earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory over top-ranked Dubuque Wahlert here Friday afternoon at Rogers Park, securing their third straight Class 3A championship.

A year after knocking the Golden Eagles off in the semifinals by the same final, Williamsburg (38-7 overall) capped another incredible season that featured a sixth trip to state in a row and the 272nd career win for head coach Adam C. Berte — a Twin River Valley and Iowa Central graduate.

“It’s really awesome to be able to do this for all the people that have supported us,” Berte said. “The girls and coaches put in a lot of time, and the parents and community support us so much.”

Makenna Hughes, a senior, had two hits and scored twice with a stolen base from the leadoff spot in the lineup. She scampered home with the game-winning run in the fifth off a single by classmate Alley Gorsh. Sophomore Ava Hocker drove in a run in the second after Hughes scored on an error in the first.

Jersey Metz earned her 20th win of the season inside the circle, striking out three and allowing only two unearned runs.

Davenport Assumption was the last program to three-peat, winning gold from 2017-19. They were the team Williamsburg bested in the finals during each of the past two seasons.

The Raiders will try to make a run at Ankeny’s four consecutive titles next summer. Only Dallas Center-Grimes and Lisbon have done it three straight times alongside Assumption.

The Raiders have won 30-plus games each of the past five seasons since the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. They have nine straight years with a winning record, and at least 23 victories each season during that span under the direction of Berte — a former Triton baseball player.

“When you tally up all the things that we’ve been able to do, it doesn’t make much sense (on paper),” Berte said. “The conference championships and state tournaments, to be able to sustain us for so long, it’s hard to focus on all that stuff at the time it’s happening.

“But we’ll look back on it and understand ust how really impressive it has been. That’s a huge credit to the kids.”

Williamsburg was as dominant as anyone in the state this past year, going 21-1 in the WaMaC to earn its third straight overall title and seventh consecutive division crown. They were 23-7 against teams with a record above .500, and averaged nearly nine runs per game.

Wahlert (26-5) was led by Ruth Tauber, as the Northern Iowa commit had two hits. The runs scored in the third for the Golden Eagles came courtesy of a single by Kylie Sieverding, followed by a bases loaded walk for Sadie Schultz.

WILLIAMSBURG 3, DUBUQUE WAHLERT 2

Williamsburg 110 010 0 – 3 7 1

Wahlert 002 000 0 – 2 8 3

WP-Jersey Metz (7 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, 3 K, 3 BB). LP-Julia Roth (7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 K, 1 BB).

2B-DW: Sadie Schultz, Natalie Ruba. RBI-W: Ava Hocker, Alley Gorsh; DW: Kylie Sieverding, Sadie Schultz. SB-W: Makenna Hughes; DW: Kylie Sieverding.