DAVENPORT, Iowa All Dave Reynolds could do was tip his cap.

After home postseason wins over Davis County and West Burlington, the West Liberty softball team ran into a giant buzzsaw Monday night.

Class 3A top-ranked Davenport Assumption pieced together 17 hits and limited West Liberty to just three in a 10-0 regional final victory at the St. Vincent Athletic Complex.

"That is a great team," West Liberty's head coach said. "They clearly had the better bats, better pitching and better defense. We've got to aspire to be a team like that."

West Liberty (22-14) hung around for the first couple of innings. In fact, Haylee Lehman led off with a double.

Lehman, though, was stranded there after Nicole Timmons recorded back-to-back strikeouts and a ground out.

"It would have been big if we had gotten a run early to put pressure on them," Lehman said.

Lehman had two of West Liberty's three hits, both coming off Timmons.

"I just went up with confidence and I knew she threw a rise ball," Lehman said. "You've either got to stay in the back of the box and lay off or hit it in the front of the box. I saw it coming early, kept my hands high and tried to stay on top of the ball."

West Liberty just couldn't string anything else together against Timmons or reliever Hannah Kelley. The Comets struck out 14 times.

"We don't see many riseballs and quality changeups like that," Reynolds said. "They just play against better teams all season long in that 5A conference."

Assumption, which has won 41 consecutive games, goes to the state tournament in Fort Dodge next week as the top seed in 3A.

After not scoring in the first two innings, the Knights scored three times in the third inning. Eighth grader Olivia Wardlow laced a two-out single back up the middle to plate the initial run.

Kelley, Emma Valainis and Carlie Sammon followed with singles.

Then in the fourth inning, Assumption (41-1) added five more hits, three coming from the bottom of the order, to extend the lead to 7-0.

"We know our offense can come through anywhere in our lineup," shortstop Nicole Yoder said after a three-hit game. "It gives us a lot of confidence and helps us stay up during the game."

West Liberty pitcher Emma Martin worked into the fourth inning before Macy Akers relieved her. Akers pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth before Assumption pounced for three more runs in the seventh.

Defeat aside, Lehman said this season was a step in the right direction for the Comets.

"This will help with our confidence next year," she said. "We've done it and now we know we can do it again."

Reynolds said for West Liberty to clear that next hurdle and get to the state tournament for the first time in program history, it starts with more offseason commitment.

"We've got to convince the girls to play more ball year-round," he said. "A lot of these quality programs have kids playing 200 or 300 games before they get to the high school game.

"Plus, we've got to get our numbers up."

Even so, Reynolds admitted his opponent Monday was just too good.

"I think Assumption will win it all," he said. "They're well-coached and do everything right."

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Top-ranked Assumption ends West Liberty's postseason run - Muscatine Journal