STATE-BOUND WARRIORS — Members of the No. 5-seeded North Union Warriors competing in the Iowa Class 2A state softball tournament starting on Monday at Rogers Park in Fort Dodge include, front row (l-r): Ella Ulrich, Harley Tobin, Libby Stevens, Cassie Beadle and Shelby Fraker. Back row: Assistant coach Hope Steinberger, assistant coach Jack Von Bank, Emily Meyer, Sam Nielsen, Olivia Von Bank, Olivia Merrill, Kaylee Meyer, Naomi Jones, Maggie Engelby, Vanessa Von Bank, Lexi Vaske, Aliyah Jones, Beth Streuber, statistician Olivia Price and head coach Kim Price. (Photo by Greg Abel)

SWEA CITY — Third-year North Union head coach Kim Price and her Warrior softball lineup already have run into a couple of hurdles on the road to the Iowa Class 2A state tournament in Fort Dodge.

After clinching North Union’s first state softball bid since 2017 via a 9-1 triumph over Sioux Central on Monday night, heavy rains and thunderstorms nearly set up roadblocks to the Warriors’ preparatory week.

Ironically, Price is pulling double diamond duty by also getting the 12U North Iowa Storm traveling softball league team ready to compete in its national tournament in Des Moines today through Sunday.

Unfortunately for the North Union squad, significant downpours overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday morning flooded out the Warriors’ practice session set for 1 p.m. Wednesday.

“First, I had to wait out the weather on my drive back from Des Moines (on Wednesday) due to tornado warnings in the central part of the state,” said Price. “Originally, (assistant) Jack (Von Bank) and I had the two teams’ schedules coordinated, but that all changed due to the weather.

“We had planned to give the (North Union) players Saturday off, but we had to adjust on the fly and flip-flopped those two days, so I think it’ll all work out in the end.”

Ironically, Price and No. 5-seeded North Union (29-4) tweaked their prep time in a positive manner for their 3:30 p.m. state quarterfinal showdown against the No. 4-seeded Earlham Cardinals (32-9) by scrimmaging against a Class 1A state qualifier at a neutral site.

“North Butler, who opens the 1A state quarterfinals against No. 1-seeded Newell-Fonda at 11 a.m. Monday in Fort Dodge, agreed to scrimmage us,” said Price. “We’ll meet in the middle in Lake Mills (Thursday) and it should be a good tuneup for both of us.”

After Price & Company made all the proper adjustments earlier this week, now the Earlham Cardinals will look to set up the next roadblock in order to sidetrack the Warriors’ hopes of producing a good showing at the state tournament at Rogers Park on Monday.

“I’ve received some information about Earlham from coaches I know who have played them this season, but it’s not a lot,” said Price. “I know they’re a solid program who defeated Interstate 35, who was sixth in the final state rankings, in 12 innings to win Region 3 on Monday night.

“They lost by one run to Mount Ayr in the regional championship in 2020 after losing a 2-0 extra-inning regional final to (2020 Class 2A state champion) Ogden the year before.”

Earlham compiled a 1-1 record during its last Class 2A state tournament appearance in 2018, while North Union — under the tutelage of Art Ingalls — lost all three of its games during the 2017 Class 2A state event. The Warriors also placed sixth at state in both 2015 and 2016.

Ironically, North Union was denied state bids during the past three summers by a pair of perennial powerhouse programs also competing in this year’s annual showcase tournament in Fort Dodge.

Newell-Fonda, which is the No. 1 seed in Class 1A next week, defeated the Warriors in regional action in 2018 before North Union lost to Central Springs in both the 2019 and 2020 postseasons. No. 3-seeded Central Springs (29-6) plays No. 6-seeded Underwood in Monday’s 5:30 p.m. Class 2A state quarterfinal at Rogers Park.

No. 2-seeded North Linn (39-6) opens state action against No. 7-seeded Iowa City Regina (19-12) at 5 p.m. Monday, while No. 1-seeded Wilton (28-3) rounds out the first-round Class 2A state bracket by taking on No. 8-seeded Pella Christian (17-18) in a 3 p.m. quarterfinal.

“North Linn held the No. 1 spot in our class for most of this season, but lost a couple of games near the end of the regular season, so they traded places with Wilton, who was No. 2 most of the time,” said Price, whose 2021 lineup experienced half of its four losses to Central Springs (6-5) and Newell-Fonda (8-4) this summer. “We’re just focused on our game against Earlham and not concerned about the rest of the field until we face our next opponent.

“It’s good to know whether your opponents hit home runs or steal a lot of bases, but sometimes you can get too caught up on those stats and lose sight of what you do well and what your strengths are.

“We’re a solid team both offensively and defensively, so we’ll make the proper adjustments as we go.”

Not only are North Union’s and Earlham’s roads to their respective returns to Fort Dodge similar, but the Warriors and Cardinals nearly match from an individual perspective, too.

North Union sophomore right-hander Emily Meyer tops Class 2A in both wins (29) and strikeouts (271), while Earlham senior hurler Madeline Janssen is tied for second in the entire state class in wins (22) and ranks 10th with 163 strikeouts in 163 1/3 innings pitched.

Meyer, who was selected as the Top of Iowa Conference West Division’s player of the year, shattered the Warriors’ single-season strikeout record of 238 during the final game of the regular season.

Meyer, who has compiled a 1.45 ERA in 174 innings pitched, also wields a powerful bat in a North Union batting order that is No. 1 in Class 2A in team batting average (.440) and on-base percentage (.511), second in runs scored (354) and tied for third in slugging (.568).

Meyer has generated the Warriors’ second-best HR mark (5) and RBI total (40), and shares the team’s lead with sophomore shortstop Olivia Von Bank with 12 doubles.

The hard-hitting Olivia Von Bank holds the No. 1 spot in Class 2A with a staggering 68 RBIs in 33 games, and has connected for a team-leading nine HRs this summer. Von Bank also is third on North Union with 57 hits and 42 runs scored.

Junior left fielder Sam Nielsen and junior third baseman Cassie Beadle set the table for Olivia Von Bank and Emily Meyer from the leadoff and No. 2 spots, respectively, in the batting order.

Nielsen, who ranks third in Class 2A with a .667 on-base clip, tops her division with 72 hits en route to a third-best batting average of .610, while Beadle completes the double-trouble duo with the No. 3 run total (59) in Class 2A to complement 61 hits en route to a .545 batting average.

Fleet-footed freshman centerfielder Naomi Jones has connected for a team-best six triples, while senior second baseman Vanessa Von Bank ranks third on the Warriors with 37 RBIs.

Sophomore catcher Shelby Fraker (.437 batting average), junior first baseman Maggie Engelby (28 RBIs) and sophomore right fielder Ella Ulrich (41 runs scored) round out North Union’s usual starting lineup.

Across the diamond, leadoff batter Grace Porter and No. 2 hitter Emma Jensen put Earlham’s offense in motion. Jensen, a senior left fielder, tops the Cardinals in both hits (61) and runs scored (51), while Porter has generated the team’s No. 2 runs scored total (45) and third-best hit total (55).

Freshman shortstop Cora Boyle has collected a second-best 57 hits and third-highest runs scored mark (36) for Earlham, which ranks second in Class 2A in hits (423) to complement 300 runs across the plate.

Freshman third baseman Alexis Voss and senior catcher Alli Boyle trigger a Cardinals’ batting order that’s No. 8 in Class 2A in doubles (66) by producing 14 and 13, respectively, while Porter has tripled four times.

Freshman first baseman Katie Janssen and eighth-grade right fielder Haley Glade share Earlham’s long-ball threats with three HRs apiece, while Cora Boyle (41), Emma Jensen (36) and Alli Boyle (35) ignite the lineup’s RBI total of 230 this summer.

“Just by looking at stats, there’s no guarantees that’s what will happen as each game is different,” said Price. “We’re just going to do what we do well, and see how it turns out.”