Top-seeded Cascade looks for first state win

DES MOINES - Cascade baseball players studied a little history.

Maybe it was so they could avoid repeating it.

Cascade has made three previous state tournament appearances without a win. The top-ranked Cougars will look to change that when they face eighth-seeded Mediapolis (21-9) in the Iowa High School Athletic Association Class 2A state quarterfinals today at Principal Park.

The Cougars are striving for more than just one victory. They are interested in three.

'We look at it as we are one of the best teams down there,” Cascade senior Evan Simon said. 'We are looking to win a state title. With our pitching and the way we've been hitting, I think it is very possible for us to do very well.”

These Cougars compiled a 37-3 record, demonstrating more depth and stronger senior leadership than those past state qualifiers.

'In the past, there are a couple really good leaders and one really good pitcher to lead those teams to a win,” said Cascade Coach Roamn Hummel, who was a part of the 1999 Cascade state squad and knew players on the 2004 team. 'Right now, we can rely on basically anyone in our lineup and three to five pitchers to come out any game and win.

'We have everybody on our team rolling the right way. I think that is the big difference between what the other teams were and what this team is.”

The lineup is stocked with talent. Senior Derek Lieurance leads the team with a .496 batting average, boasting a 7-1 record with a 1.01 earned-run average. Trace Hoffman is 7-0 and hasn't allowed a run yet this season. Adam Strang and Bryce Simon are each 6-0 with Ries Rausch matching them with six wins.

Lieurance leads them in average, hits (59) and home runs (3). Hoffman is tops in runs (48) and doubles (13). Senior Nolan Weber leads the Cougars with 46 RBIs and Bryce Simon has a team-high 18 stolen bases.

Cascade managed just one run in three state losses. The current Cougars have a more potent offense, leading 2A with 363 runs. They averaged more than nine runs, while allowing less than two per game. Cascade clinched its berth with a 10-0 five-inning win over third-ranked rival Dyersville Beckman.

'If you have defense, pitching and timely hitting, you can win about every game,” Simon said. 'That is what we have had the last couple games and if we can do it down there we should get a win.”

The top seed sometimes comes with the biggest target to take other teams' best shots. Mediapolis has already dropped three River Valley Conference teams - Durant, Wilton and Iowa City Regina - en route to Des Moines.

'The teams that are left have all gotten here for a reason,” Hummel said. 'They certainly earned their way to be there as well, doing things the right way. We'd have to treat that game like any other one. They are a great opponent.”

The Cougars learned a lesson from their classmates on the softball field. The Cascade softball team went from the No. 7 seed to runners-up. They want another parade, celebrating a state trophy haul.

'The biggest part of it was for them to see the excitement and fans for the softball players, and what it was like for them to be in those situations,” Hummel said. 'We talk a lot about putting yourself in that spot.

'Everybody is a No. 1 seed right now, because they are all undefeated in the postseason. We used softball as an example.”

Hummel praised the senior class, calling it one of the best he has coached. They ended more than a decade hiatus from state and are focused on an impressive finish, making their own history in the program.

'It means a lot for us,” Simon said. 'We want to cap this off the right way and win a state championship. Build a legacy in that way.”

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