The Lakes Conference will once again be represented at the Iowa girls state softball tournament following Estherville-Lincoln Central’s 6-0 blanking of Jefferson-Scranton-Paton-Churdan in the Class 2A Regional final Wednesday in Ft. Dodge. The Midgets jumped out early to a 3-0 lead in the first thanks to a two-run homer by Ashley Weston. In the second inning, Sadie Winter followed with a solo blast of her own. Kendall Bosch took care of the JSPC lineup, allowing just one hit on the day and striking out nine for the win. ELC is 23-11 heading into the state tournament, where they will open with Bondurant-Farrar on Monday at 7:30pm in Ft. Dodge.
The Class 1A field will include North Sentral Kossuth/Armstrong-Ringsted after they blew by Woden-Crystal Lake-Titonka, 10-0, in six innings. Akron-Westfield also won big, taking down West Lyon 9-0 to qualify for state. Newell-Fonda fell a run shy, dropping a 1-0 contest to Earlham.
The Class 3A Regional final in LeMars saw Sioux City Bishop Heelan take an 8-2 victory over Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley, earning a trip to the state tournament in Ft. Dodge.
