Regals repeat: 6-run 3rd inning sends Regina to 2A state softball title

FORT DODGE — Repeat after me ... it’s Iowa City Regina.

Again.

The top-ranked Regals erupted for six runs in the bottom of the third inning and dusted No. 2 Van Meter, 6-2, in the Class 2A championship game of the state softball tournament Friday evening at the Rogers Sports Complex.

“It’s so cool,” said Ashley Webb, who transferred from Clear Creek Amana last spring and became the final link in the Regals’ championship chain, earning all-tournament captaincy.

“I’m not going to sleep tonight.”

That’s the best kind of insomnia.

Regina (30-8) captured its fifth 2A championship, all since 2011. But this is the first time the Regals have won consecutive titles.

“It feels like it was just yesterday when we won it (last year),” Dani Laughlin said. “Now we’ve done it again. It’s crazy.”

Laughlin joined Webb on the all-tournament, along with Courtney Kessler and Gabby Sueppel.

Van Meter (36-6) took an early 1-0 lead, but when the Regals answered, they did it for keeps.

Six runs on seven hits, and a swift double steal, turned the game on its ear in the third.

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“We really showed who we are,” Laughlin said. “When we scored like that, it was if (the Bulldogs) hit a brick wall. They didn’t expect that.”

Avery Kies started the monster rally with a one-out double. Laughlin reached on a fielder’s choice, then both runners advanced a base (scoring Kies) as the Bulldogs threw it around.

Kessler’s RBI single put the Regals in front, 2-1, and they just kept cooking.

Webb singled. Then it was successive RBI singles by Kennedy Conner, Morgan Gahan, Jillian Panther and Alli Clark.

Damage done.

“We always seem to have that one big inning,” Kessler said.

Van Meter got a run back in the fourth, then loaded the bases in the seventh before the Regals got the final out.

Webb, who finished 19-6 in her new home, gloved the final ground ball and flipping it to first base for the clincher.

“We got behind, but we stuck to the plan,” Webb said. “We needed to keep our heads in the game.”

So, did she envision this in February, when she joined her new team?

“No, no, no,” she said. “But in the process, I figured, they’ve done this before. I saw how they play together.”

She beamed.

“This is a happy home.”

And a happy ending.

Iowa City Regina 6, Van Meter 2

Class 2A State Championship, at Fort Dodge

Van Meter 100 100 0 — 2 6 1

Iowa City Regina 006 000 x — 6 9 2

Macy Blomgren and Cali RIchards. Ashley Webb and Courtney Kessler. W — Webb (19-6). L — Blomgren (11-1).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com