Carlisle tops Xavier in state tournament-worthy regional softball final

CEDAR RAPIDS — It was a matchup typically reserved for the state tournament.

Only four softball teams in Class 4A entered the regional finals with at least 30 wins. Two of them faced off for a tournament berth.

“In my opinion, I think this is a game that should have been played at Fort Dodge next week, not to get there,” Cedar Rapids Xavier Coach Nikki Gahring said after the seventh-ranked Saints were trimmed by No. 8 Carlisle, 2-1, in a 4A regional final Tuesday night at Bob Erusha Field. “They are a very good team. A very good program. They played well. We played well. It was a very clean, hard-fought game. It should have been a state tournament game.”

Xavier (30-11) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when junior Carley Jonker singled home courtesy runner Avery Ohde from third base. But that was the last of the offensive output for the Saints, who registered two base hits and no runs over the final six frames against Carlisle pitchers Addesyn Abel and Mallie Stoner.

“They moved the ball well,” Gahring said. “We knew they were going to throw outside a little bit. We took some balls this way and unfortunately we had some barreled-up balls that went right to their defense.”

Carlisle tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second inning with a run-scoring double by Harley Brower, then took the lead for good in the sixth inning with a one-out single up the middle by Logan Brown that scored courtesy runner Alyvia Freeman from second base.

“It was some sort of rise ball down the middle,” Brown said. “But I had a full count. … With that full count, you see it come down the middle, you get your bat out and go for it.”

The win was the 12th in a row for Carlisle (34-8), which advances to the state tournament for the 15th time in the last 17 years.

Xavier pitcher Braylen Conlon — a Western Kentucky commit — struck out 10 batters in seven innings for the Saints.

“I was really working on throwing out,” Conlon said. “I threw a lot of my curves out, and then I threw a lot of rise balls when I got ahead in the count.”

Conlon, Katie Pilcher and Alaina Luerkens accounted for the other Xavier hits, all singles.

Xavier had two eighth-graders, one freshman, two sophomores and five juniors in its starting lineup Tuesday. The Saints graduate just one senior — Elena Schmit — and given the abundance of returning production, figure to be a major factor in 2025.

“I think we’re going to be really excited,” Conlon said. “Obviously we're really young still. We still have a lot of talent left. Next year, I think, this will be a different story.”