The Oskaloosa Indians have put themselves in a great position following a nice 6-2 win over Chariton Monday night.
Oskaloosa used timely hits and good plate approaches to scratch across two runs in each the second and the third inning to take an early 4-0 off of Charger left-hander Charlie Palmer. A couple of insurance runs were added, and Chariton would score a couple of unearned runs in the sixth, but it was Osky’s night, as they win the District 12 Championship and will play Pella Wednesday for a chance to go to the state tournament.
That game will be played in Pella, which is one of five locations in the eight substate games in Class 3A that will be hosted by one of the participating teams. You can hear that game live on the Mahaska Zone Network, 99.5 FM and AM 740 KMZN and on kboeradio.com, with our pregame starting around 6:45 for the 7 PM first pitch.
Pella is 3-0 against Oskaloosa this year, and in the lone game in Pella between the two teams, the Little Dutch got a 10-0 run-rule victory. Pella is ranked #1 in the state in Class 3A, but rankings haven’t meant much in the postseason in either summer sport.
After an incredible amount of upsets and near upsets in softball, baseball has also lived up to that billing. Only five ranked teams remain in the Class 3A bracket, and another top five team will go down as #2 Waverly-Shell Rock is paired against #4 West Delaware in the substate round. #3 Gilbert, #5 Knoxville, #6 Davenport Assumption, #8 Spirit Lake, and #10 Saydel have all bowed out prior to the Round of 16.
Oskaloosa will attempt to put Pella on that list with their game on Wednesday night. Pella got into that game by virtue of their 3-0 win over Fairfield last night in Fairfield. The game was called after five innings because of a rainstorm that just missed Oskaloosa to the south. The field in Fairfield couldn’t hold the water, and since the game had reached an official length, it was decided to call the game, despite the tight score.
The other game in the area on Monday night was the Ottumwa Bulldogs against Iowa City West in Class 4A Substate 6. Ottumwa got off to a good start grabbing an early 2-0 lead, but West roared back, scoring 11 unanswered runs and eventually getting the win 14-7 after Ottumwa tried desperately to rally. Iowa City West now faces #5 Cedar Rapids Prairie with a chance to go to the state tournament on Wednesday. Ottumwa’s season ends with a record of 25-16.
Tonight, Class 1A and 2A will determine their state tournament participants. In the lone area game, Davis County will look to punch their ticket to the state tournament against Des Moines Christian. The Mustangs are four years removed from their lone state championship back in 2011, and three years removed from their last appearance in Principal Park for the state tournament. Davis County is 24-7 this year, and will head into their game with Des Moines Christian tonight a slight underdog. DMC is the first team on the watchlist in the final rankings. That game is being played tonight at 7 PM in Indianola.
