Throughout the Iowa high school softball season, Waukee Northwest carried the kind of pressure that comes with being the team everyone circles. The Wolves handled it all the way through, then finished the job by defending their Class 5A state championship.
That title run also locked in Waukee Northwest’s spot as the No. 1 team in the final High School On SI Iowa rankings. Ankeny Centennial, which lost to the Wolves in the championship game, checks in second, with Class 4A champion ADM right behind in third.
Waukee Northwest’s final statement came in the form of a 3-1 win over Ankeny Centennial, decided by a sixth-inning home run. The Wolves graduate only a handful of seniors and still bring back Sophia Schlader, so the expectation is they’ll be back in the mix in 2027.
Ankeny Centennial pushed Waukee Northwest for more than five innings before a late two-run homer swung the title game. The Jaguars head into the offseason losing several key pieces, including multiple players bound for four-year college programs.
ADM’s climb to the top of Class 4A was just as convincing. The Tigers rolled through one of the deepest state tournament fields and capped the dream season with a shutout, backed by star Lauren Hagedorn.
Carlisle earned its way into the Class 4A final with a dramatic elimination-game win, then ran into ADM and came up short. Even so, the program remains in strong hands under James Flaws.
Dubuque Wahlert Catholic took over Class 3A in emphatic fashion, blasting four home runs to knock off Williamsburg and claim the state title. Julia Roth, who is headed to the University of Iowa, and Natalie Ruba each homered twice, and Roth finished with two RBI.
Williamsburg, meanwhile, fell just short of a shot at history. The Raiders were trying to become four-time Class 3A state champions, but Dubuque Wahlert Catholic stopped that run in the final.
Fort Dodge made one of the biggest moves in the rankings after missing the elite eight a year ago. The Dodgers returned to the state tournament and nearly reached the Class 4A title game, falling to Carlisle after playing twice earlier that same day. With only two seniors graduating, the future looks bright.
At the bottom of the top 10, the Class 4A Bobcats couldn’t crack ADM, dropping a pair of games to the Tigers at state.
Southeast Polk also had the upper hand on the Tigers during the regular season, but that didn’t carry over to Fort Dodge. In the Class 5A tournament, the Tigers lost twice and were eliminated.
The Mustangs made a strong first impression in Class 5A, showing in year one that they can hang with the state’s biggest programs.
Dropped out of the rankings were No. 25 Sergeant Bluff-Luton, No.
23 Missouri Valley and No. 24 Atlantic.
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