Bobcat baseball’s Principal Park debut highlights year that was

2008: A Year in Review

By MARK PAWLAK

The first venture to Principal Park in Des Moines for the Iowa High School State Baseball Tournament created plenty of memorable moments for Marshalltown High School.

The Class 4A tournament saw the No. 7 seed advance to the championship; a team erase a four-run deficit in the seventh inning to win a game after midnight; and a team become the first in 4A history to complete an undefeated season.

The Bobcats' time in Des Moines was one of the top stories on the local sports scene in 2008.

Marshalltown had come up one win short of the state tournament in 2007 and a strong group of seniors - led by IHSBCA Elite team first baseman Tyler Peschong - would not let the Bobcats' season end before they made it to state.

Holding a 25-12 record going into the tournament, Marshalltown was the No. 7 seed.

The Bobcats took out No. 2 seed Sioux City North in the opening round, 2-0, behind 6 2/3 scoreless innings from Jimmy Six.

Next up was No. 3 seed Burlington in a Friday night semifinal matchup. As it came to be, MHS ended up winning its semifinal game Saturday, July 26 as well as playing the championship game later that night.

Burlington erased a 5-1 Bobcat lead to hold a 9-5 advantage going into the seventh inning. Marshalltown erupted for five runs, capped by a three-run triple by sophomore Jarred Carlson to bring in the winning run. After forcing the Greyhounds to strand the tying run in the bottom of the seventh, the Bobcats punched their ticket for the championship game at 12:02 a.m.

Top-seeded and undefeated Johnston waited in the finals. Marshalltown had faced the Dragons earlier in the year and only Mother Nature had prevented a Bobcat victory. Marshalltown led 10-3 through four full innings before the game was rained out.

Johnston won the rematch 6-2 for the state championship.

"It'll be (a season) I'll remember forever," Marshalltown head coach Steve Hanson said in July. "We got great leadership from our seniors and they got us through some tough times. When we did have some bad spells, we didn't stay in it very long. They kept coming back every day."

The state tournament trips were not just limited to the baseball field for the Bobcats.

The boys' basketball team made the 24th state tournament trip in school history - tied for the most in the state - with a 19-5 overall record. Marshalltown lost to defending champion Linn-Mar in overtime in the opening round. Three starters from that team return to this year's squad, which is 3-1 going into the new year. Junior Chanse Creekmur, one of three third-year starters on the team, verbally committed to the University of Iowa during the summer.

A first-time state qualifier was the Marshalltown girls' soccer team. Freshman Lissa Duff had 16 goals on the season for a Bobcat team that finished 9-7.

Senior Derek Williams captured a state championship in track and field as he won the Class 4A long jump. He was the first long jump champion at MHS since 1917.

On the tennis court, Krissy Lankelma became the first Bobcat to qualify for two state tennis competitions. Lankelma ended with a 21-2 season record and was the state runner-up.

The last time the Marshalltown baseball team was in the state championship game was in 2002 with Jeff Clement on the squad.

Clement's professional year of 2008 was an up-and-down one. After turning heads with a strong close to 2007 in Seattle, the Mariners sent Clement to Triple AAA Tacoma to start the year.

After hitting .397 in 23 games, Clement was called up to Seattle at the end of April.

Three weeks later, Clement was back in Tacoma after hitting under .200 with 20 strikeouts in 48 at-bats.

Clement got into a groove back in the Pacific Coast League and was at one point the league's leader in slugging and on-base percentage. After another month in Tacoma, Clement was again called up to the Mariners on June 17.

An August tear saw Clement hit .325 for the month, but a knee injury ended his season Sept. 9. Clement hit .227 in 66 games with five home runs and 23 RBIs overall for the year.

In Traer, the state championship haul continued in 2008.

The North Tama girls' track team won its third consecutive state title and did it with a state record for the most points scored. Sara Stoakes won four titles, while Blaire Dinsdale was a three-time champion. Stoakes added to her 100-, 200- and 400-meter titles later in the year by winning the state cross country championship. Blaire and Brooke Dinsdale now run for Nebraska, while Stoakes gave a verbal commitment to Kansas State in December.

The Redhawks' football team was the Iowa high school leader in defense for the second straight year in 2008. North Tama won a school record 13 games and its only loss was a 22-21 OT heartbreaker to Southern Cal in the state title game.

North Tama quarterback Wyatt Hanus threw 22 touchdowns passes on the year. In the state career recordbooks, Hanus graduates tied for 15th in touchdown passes, 17th in completions and 19th in passing yards.

Speaking of repeating as champions, the Grundy Center girls' golf team won its second state title in a row.

The Spartans brought home their 10th championship - taking over the title as the most for any school in state history. All have come since 1990 with Rick Schupbach as head coach. Grundy Center had a 39-2 record during the year and was led by state runner-up Jocilyn Onnen.

The top-ranked Class 2A softball team in the final 2008 rankings resided in Conrad.

BCLUW again was the girls of summer as it set a school record for wins in its 39-2 season.

Twins Jamie and Nicole Fisher were first-team all-state performers for head coach David Lee's Comets. Jamie Fisher had a 35-2 pitching record with 471 Ks and an ERA of 0.40. Nicole Fisher hit .514 with 10 home runs and 75 RBIs (an RBI total that was tops among Iowa high school softball and ranks in the top 5 in state history).

A national power continued to develop in the men's soccer team at Marshalltown Community College. The Tigers earned a No. 2 national ranking on the way to having a 12-1-2 mark in the fall. Days before the regional tournament, the NJCAA pulled the plug on the year as MCC was found in violation of scholarship rules.

Other top moments:

Marshalltown's boys' swimming team defeats West Des Moines Valley in a dual meet for the first time.

West Marshall girls' basketball head coach Fred Zeller records his 500th career victory.

The Gladbrook-Reinbeck boys' basketball team completed its second consecutive undefeated regular season with an 18-0 mark in 2007-08. The Rebels are 5-1 so far in 2008-09 and have run their NICL West winning streak to 28.

East Marshall/GMG sophomore Sam Upah is the runner-up at the Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament and ends the season with a 42-4 record.

GMG girls' basketball breaks the school record for wins for the fourth consecutive season. The Wolverines, which were ranked in the IGHSAU poll for the first time in school history as well, went 20-3. All three losses were to top-ranked Dunkerton.

The AGWSR girls' basketball team makes its third straight state tournament. The Cougars made the trip behind their defense as they set the all-time state record for scoring defense at 29.08 points per game. AGWSR owns a 41-game NICL West winning streak and has won 55 consecutive home games.

Jake Shipley hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer as the West Marshall boys' basketball team defeated Waterloo Columbus 41-40 in the substate final for its first state tournament trip since 1990.

BCLUW sweeps the NICL West conference track titles. The championship is the first in the NICL West for the Comet girls, while the boys ended a string of three consecutive runner-up finishes.

Iowa Girls Coaches Association Hall of Famer Mike Vint takes over as head coach for the Marshalltown softball team. The Bobcats turn in a 23-19 season mark and nearly qualify for the first state tournament in school history. Marshalltown came up one win short as they were knocked out of the postseason by Southeast Polk in the regional final.

South Tama/East Marshall entered boys' soccer substate play with a 5-9 record. Four wins in eight days earned the Trojans the first state tournament berth in school history.

West Marshall qualifies for the first state girls' golf tournament in school history after earning the regional title. The Trojans are joined in Marshalltown by Grundy Center and Marshalltown. The Bobcats' state trip is their seventh in a row - the longest current streak in the state.

First-team all-state performer Scott Benson leads the Gladbrook-Reinbeck baseball team to an undefeated NICL West season and a 29-3 overall record.

West Marshall junior Joe Disney repeats as the first baseman on the Iowa Newspaper Association Class 2A all-state baseball team. Disney hit .543 with 13 home runs and his 70 RBIs represent one of the top single-season performances in state history.

The Student Activity Center opens at Marshalltown Community College. The Tigers' volleyball team advanced to the regional championship in its new digs. The MCC women's basketball team ended the 2008 portion of its schedule with a 10-4 mark, including a win over No. 1-ranked DMACC. The Tiger men are 10-6 going into 2009.

Marshalltown quarterback Chanse Creekmur set single-game school records for completions (35) and passing yards (441) as the Bobcat football team lost 55-42 at Waukee. Marshalltown's 505 passing yards as a team are the fourth-most in Iowa high school football history. Allen Mann had 54 catches on the year to set a single-season record and broke the school mark for career touchdown catches with 18. He had 10 in 2008. The Bobcats' hopes of becoming the first in school history to make the postseason in back-to-back years are dashed by a goal line stand by Fort Dodge in the season finale.

AGWSR makes the most of its first state tournament appearance in volleyball as it motors all the way to the Class 1A championship match. The Cougars (37-5) dropped a five-game heartbreaker to Tripoli to leave with the runner-up trophy. AGWSR outside hitter Macy Ubben was named captain of the all-tournament team.