It’ll be a one-versus-two showdown in tonight’s Class 2A championship game at the state softball tournament as Solon and Akron-Westfield claimed 1-0 victories in the semis. Top-ranked Solon got by conference rival Mid-Prairie. Senior catcher Lindsey Kidwell drove in the only run with a double in the bottom of the sixth after she convinced coach John Begley to let her swing away. “He kind of called the bunt and I thought I was more confident hitting, so I asked him about it,” she says. It was the third time this season that Solon defeated Mid-Prairie. Tarah Colt pitched a three-hitter as number two Akron Westfield beat third rated Okoboji. It is the 11th time in the las 12 games that the Westerners have posted a shutout. “We knew it’d be close, but we didn’t think it’d be 1-0,” Colt says. After losing in the 1A semifinals last year, Akron-Westfield will play in the championship game for the first time. Catie Bobier drove in the game’s lone run with a double over the third base bag in the top of the first. Okoboji did not get its first hit until Chelsea Ellis led off the fifth inning with a double to right center but ended up being stranded at third. Top-ranked and defending champion Spirit Lake is headed back to the 3A title game courtesy of another comeback. Brittany Chambers led off the top of the seventh with a triple to right center then scored the game winner on Kaisha Brown’s double as the Indians beat Carlisle 2-1. “I was really nervous and then I saw my dad catch my foul ball,” Brown says. “I was like ‘Oh, that’s a sign.'” It was the fourth straight game that Spirit Lake needed to rally to win. They trailed Carlisle 1-0 heading into the sixth inning. They will take on fifth-ranked Norwalk in the championship. Carlye Owens tossed a two-hitter and posted her second straight shutout in the tournament in a 1-0 victory over Carroll. The Warriors got the run they needed on a double by Brittany Goble in the top of the seventh. In 4A, two underdogs will face off for the title. In the semis, defending champion West Des Moines Dowling fell to Cedar Rapids Jefferson and West Des Moines Valley beat top-ranked Pleasant Valley 4-0.
