Exira-EHK/Audubon SB Comes Up Short at 1A State Softball

EEHK-A's Taryn Petersen
(7-21-26)

EEHK-A's Abby Wanser
(7-21-26)

EEHK-A's Riley Miller
(7-20-26)

Exira-EHK/Audubon SB Comes Up Short at 1A State Softball –

(7-22-26) – Despite a No. 1 seed, Spartan softball ran into an upstart that looked to play spoiler in the state softball tournament.

Exira-EHK/Audubon fell short of their season goal, being upset twice by the No. 8-seed, Edgewood-Colesburg to finish their season in the 1A State Softball Semifinals at Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge on Wednesday.

The Spartans looked like they had a solid road to the title game, opening up against the Vikings on Monday, but pitcher Rachel Egleseder, who came in to the tournament with nearly 300 strikeouts on the season, would mow down an aggressive lineup with 15 strikeouts and Addi Schmelzer ran into her first two homers of the season to drive in 3-runs in a 6-3 loss by Exira-EHK/Audubon.

Riley Miller had all 3 hits and drove in all 3 runs for the Spartans. She talked about how she was able to solve Egleseder.

“My approach was, if she's going to throw me a rise ball, I'm not going to swing at it. Like, she's going to get mad eventually. She's going to leave one over to play and that's what she did for me three times. She gave me 3 balls that weren't moving. So, our team just has to be able to recognize what a ball is moving and lay off of it.”

Coach Tom Petersen hoped the nerves his team may have to start the state tournament would fade quickly.

“(Our players are) 14 to 18 years old. You're at the state tournament. You want to go up and you want to hit the ball, but that adrenaline kicks in. So, you know, our girls were excited, but hopefully, you know, after playing one game up here that we can settle in because we got a quick turnaround.”

Their opening day loss meant Exira-EHK/Audubon had to take two games on Tuesday to keep their season alive. In the first game against West Monona, the offense came alive with 8 runs in the 2nd to run away with an 11-1 win in 4 innings. Exira-EHK/Audubon’s Abby Wanser says it was a unity that helped them to the win.

“I think the big mindset change was do it for each other. If you're not going to do it for yourself, find someone on the team to do it for because we all want to be here and we all want to keep going and we all want to, in the end, make it to the championship.”

Miller had homer and three RBI, while striking out four to get the win.

Then nightcap would seem the face SE Warren and Spartan/Wheeler flare for the dramatic at the state tournament appeared again.

Taryn Petersen came around to score when Anna Larsen’s bunt single was thrown away to let Exira-EHK/Audubon walk… it… off for a 5-4 win over the Warhawks. Taryn Petersen talked about her team’s flair for the walk off.

“You just got to come up into that last inning, getting ready, because know it's coming, know it's ready, what's going to be there. So, and that's exactly what we did, and Anna did it, and that's just, it's just great.

Zoey Rasmussen had a solo homer for the Exira-EHK/Audubon. Taryn Petersen said SE Warren pitcher Allie Giesler was just the type of pitcher that Rasmussen could handle.

“We knew what Southeast Warren's girl was going to throw,” said Petersen about Rasmussen’s at-bat. “Riley told her she was going to throw a ball that's going to drop. And Zoe, every time that happens, she'll hit one and that's exactly what she did tonight.”

Lucy Stanerson had two hits and an RBI for Exira-EHK/Audubon.

The quarterfinal victory meant a rematch in the 1A State Semifinals against Edgewood-Colesburg, in which the Spartans would’ve needed to get two wins against the Vikings to reach the state championship.

But the Vikings Egleseder shutdown the Spartans for a 2nd time this tournament, allowing only 3 hits and striking out 8, shutting out Exira-EHK/Audubon, 5-0.

Spartans Coach Tom Petersen is proud of how his team battled in the tournament.

“We came back and we won two games yesterday. To me that this shows a lot of heart, a lot of grit with the kids, and that's what I'm most proud of (from this team).”

Exira-EHK/Audubon finishes their season 25-6, having reached at least the state semifinals for the 2nd time in three years.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats