(Oakland, IA) — The 2025 Iowa High School State Softball tournament starts today with first round action in Class 3A, 4A and 5A. The first round games in Class 1A will be tomorrow and Riverside will face off against Newell Fonda with coverage on KSOM.
Before the season, Elly Henderson who is the only senior on the team went to assistant Darrell Frain and asked what the chances the Bulldogs have for going to state. Frain responded “We’ll see” but Riverside dominated in the Western Iowa Conference, tying Treynor for the conference title and then dominated their regional to go to Fort Dodge. Henderson says one big reason is everybody on the team likes each other
Offense is a big key for Riverside, Henderson hits .273, Junior Adaline Martens bats .468 with 2 HR and 20 RBI plus 32 runs scored and while they have been a slow starting team this year, Martens says they have become dangerous later in games
As a team, Riverside is batting .383 — Junior Madison Kelley is leading the team in RBI with 46 and is hitting .476 and she says everybody in the line up can hit
Riverside is not with adversity — Martens got hurt before the season and had to move from catcher to 2nd base and Sophomore Sophia Fenner who pitched as an 8th grader, played shortstop as a freshman, but gladly moved to catcher and she has developed a bond with Freshman Pitcher Peyton Schafer
Schafer threw a no hitter against Mount Ayr in the regional semifinals and is 23-3 on the season with a 2.22 ERA and 133 strikeouts. She says the key for this team is to treat every state tournament game like any other
Four seeded Riverside is 23-3 plays five seeded Newell Fonda who is 24-11, game time tomorrow is at 5 pm, Meet the Bulldogs with complete interviews with all the players is at 4 pm tomorrow on KSOM.
