July 17, 2025
Local NewsState & National

Raiderettes return to state for fifth time

By JARED LARSON

The Mount Ayr softball team defeated West Central Valley, 5-1, in a Class 2A regional final at home Monday night to qualify for the State Softball Tournament. It is the team's third appearance at state in the past four years. The Raiderettes will face top-seeded Central Springs at 3 p.m. Tuesday, July 19 at Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge. (Larry Peterson)

MOUNT AYR — With a 5-1 victory over West Central Valley in the Class 2A region No. 4 final on July 11, the Raiderettes advanced to their fifth state tournament since 1982 and third since 2019.

Mount Ayr finished the regular season 14-9 and fourth in the Pride of Iowa.

“We know that our conference is going to be really good,” Raiderette head coach Bret Ruggles said. “Every year our conference sends somebody to the state tournament whether it’s Wayne, Southeast Warren, Mount Ayr, Martensdale-St Marys, there’s been a lot of teams that have gone to the state tournament.”

Of the four Pride of Iowa schools mentioned, Mount Ayr, Southeast Warren and Martensdale-St Marys advanced on.

Wayne fell to the Blue Devils in the regional final, 2-1, otherwise they would have been in and Martensdale-St Marys would have been out.

“You know going into the year that you’re going to have some tough league games,” Ruggles said.

A schedule graphic for Mount Ayr softball featuring the Raiderette's three seniors, Halsie Barnes, Payten Lambert and Addy Reynolds. (JARED LARSON)

Mount Ayr went 8-6 in the non-conference slate.

“We try to find some of the tougher competition and get into some of the tougher games that we can,” Ruggles said. “If you look at the nine (losses) they were at the time to a ranked team at that time. Now, Griswold ended up bowing out of the rankings, but at the time we played them, they were ranked.”

Two of the Raiderettes losses came to Class 5A region No. 5 runnerup Ankeny 4-3 and Class 4A region No. 4 runnerup Bondurant-Farrar 4-2 at the John Stephens Classic in Creston.

“We left Creston, really, on an upside,” Ruggles said. “Although we took two losses, we were one swing away from beating Ankeny and were about two swings away from beating Bondurant.”

Mount Ayr’s regular season ended at No. 7 (1A) Twin Cedars, where the Sabers won 11-0. Twin Cedars will also be in Fort Dodge as they advanced against Sigourney, 7-6, in Class 1A region No. 8 action.

“We had some ups and we had some downs, we had a major down with Twin Cedars right before the season ended,” Ruggles said. “But, we kind of got that out of the system. We had a really good game against Southeast Warren we had a really good four innings versus Martensdale-St Marys. It’s been there the whole time, it’s just can we get it together for a three game set?”

Tournament

Mount Ayr opens their state tournament against No. 1 Central Springs (31-1) on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

“Central Springs is good,” Ruggles said. “They have been there for a very long time. They’re a good ball club, I told the girls ‘When you’re up there at state, they’re all good, that’s how this works.’”

“We’re excited about the matchup,” Ruggles added about the Panthers. “I don’t feel like this is a David vs. Goliath matchup, I think it’s closer. We’re going to have to get some runs, we’re going to have to score offensively. We can’t win this one 2-1 or 2-0.”

Accuweather forecasts the temperature will be 92 degrees with a heat index of 95 degrees on game day.

“I’ve never been to the state tournament and felt like it’s 90-some degrees outside,” Ruggles said. “The weather will be what it is. The good news is with your adrenaline up and the moment, you don’t notice the weather. When things calm down post game, that’s when the weather shows up. We’re going to have to be hydrated. That’s a long walk from that facility all the way over to the fields.”

Terrific trio

Addy Reynolds, Halsie Barnes and Payten Lambert are making their third trip to state during their careers.

In their first tournament, the trio was part of a 3-2 quarterifinal win over Beckman Catholic, an 8-1 loss to eventual champion North Linn and a 5-4 consolation win against East Marshall.

The 2019 Mount Ayr softball team.

“They were the young ones, they were the energy bugs running around just so excited to be a part of it,” Ruggles said.

The 2020 Mount Ayr softball team

In 2020, the Raiderettes fell 8-2 to Ogden. The Bulldogs also became the eventual state champion, as they defeated North Linn in the final.

“Fast forward to 2022 and here they are, now they’re the seniors with a bunch of young talent being energy bugs,” Ruggles said. “It’s fun to see that transition. They have been great. They got things organized and rooms ready. They know exactly how it has to run.”