It was July 20 when Pleasant Valley Softball made history yet again. The Spartans won back-to-back class 5A State championships, making them the first to do it in the largest classification since West Des Moines Valley in 2007-08.
There were only four upperclassmen on a team with a total of seventeen girls, which meant leadership was very important for the young team. The Spartans were lead by senior pitchers Ellie Spelhaug and Alexia Lara.
“We just had to take it day by day. Some days were more stressful than others, trying to get the team on the right path and we often struggled to find who we were as a team at the beginning of the year,” Spelhaug states. “However, in the end we finally found our identity and came together as one to make history again.”
Winning two state championships is not an easy task, but the softball team put in year-long training in order to get ready for the summer season. Emily Wood, a freshman outfielder, knew how important it was for the team to work hard everyday.
“As a team we put in so many hours both in and out of season. We had the goal of winning back-to-back championships in our minds. Because of this, we worked on days teams had off, and our practices were longer than most teams. That feeling of going back-to-back and having all that hard work pay off was probably the most rewarding thing of all.” Wood explained.
Iowa is the only state in the country that plays softball in the summer. The head coach for the softball team, Jose Lara claimed, “The biggest positive of playing in the summer is that it doesn’t interfere with students academics. It also allows college coaches to recruit Iowa prospects. However, it makes students and teachers give up their entire summer to play the sport, but we do it because we love it.”
By playing softball in the summer, people argue that it gives the sport less attention because all the students/faculty are on summer break. Although, Spelhaug never thought many fans were needed, “There were never many students or fans at the games, but the Pleasant Valley Community has always been so supportive of everything our team has done. We never needed the stands to be filled because we knew we always had support from everyone back home.”
