The three champions were crowned as the state high school softball tournament wrapped up in Fort Dodge. Lisa Birroci tossed a two-hitter and drove in the winning run with a two out single in the top of the seventh as eighth ranked Des Moines Lincoln edged fifth ranked North Scott 1-0 for the 3A title. The Rails also won the 1999 title and it was Birroci who provided the game-winning hit in the championship game.The game brought to an end the brilliant career of North Scott coach Dennis Johnson who closes it out with one thousand victories. Johnson says he’ll eventually have time to reflect on his career.It was North Scott’s second straight runner-up finish. Heidi Whaley drove in the game winner with a single in the top of the seventh as third ranked Colfax-Mingo claimed the 1A championship with a 1-0 win over Conrad B-C-L-U-W. B-C-L-U-W had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh but Colfax-Mingo’s catcher tossed back to Jessica Hicks for final out as the Comets Ashley Zink tried to score on a wild pitch.B-C-L-U-W had another chance to score with runners on second and third and one out in the second but failed to push the run across.BreAnn VanDeer has yet to spend a day in high school but she already has an Iowa high school record. VanDeer became the first eighth-grader to pitcher her team to a state championship as unranked Webster City shocked top ranked Clear Creek-Amana 3-1 for the class 2A championship.Webster City took advantage of several miscues to build a 2-0 lead and VanDeer says that helped her confidence.The trouble for Clear Creek-Amana started before the game when starter Jackie Sorensen, plagued by a sore pitching arm the last couple of weeks, was unable to begin the game. On the field the Clippers committed nine errors in suffering just their sixth loss in 58-games.
