The state high school baseball tournament closed out in Des Moines Saturday with West Des Moines Valley setting a new mark. The fourth ranked Tigers became the first large scghool to win four consecutive state titles after a 13-0 win over Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the 4A title game.
It capped off a dominant run by the Tigers who outscored their opponents 39-1 in three tournament games. In class 3A Cedar Rapids Xavier won its first state championship as the Saints downed Western Dubuque 10-2. It was a seventh state title for Davenport Assumption the first in 2A as the top ranked Knights beat number six North Polk.
The class 1A title contest went to extras innings. Seventh ranked Lenox scored five runs in the top of the eighth and got by number three Sentral of Fenton 10-5. It is the first state title for the Tigers and longtime coach Steve Westphal.
Westphal says he didn’t think they would get the title this year, he thought it would come three or four years down the road as the team got older. But Westphal says maybe they’ll get back to the title game again.
After rallying in the bottom of the seventh for a semifinal round victory Sentral nearly did get same thing in the championship. The Spartan scored the tying run with two outs in the seventh and with one more hit would have won the game. Sentral coach Mike Elsbecker says his team has been “tremendous” the way they show up and play.