Fort Dodge softball finishes what they started last year
FORT DODGE, Iowa (BVM) — In most sports, it takes time for a team to realize what its potential could be for a season. Sometimes a team doesn’t truly know until halfway through its season or just before playoffs start. However, in the case of the Fort Dodge Dodgers, they knew almost a year ago what they were capable of this softball season.
“The day we lost to Cedar Rapids Kennedy is the day we figured that out because the next day I had several of those kids working for the following year,” Dodgers head coach Andi Adams said.
Last year, Fort Dodge entered the state tournament as the No. 1 seed and made it all the way to the state championship before losing to the Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 5-1. It was a hard loss, but Adams and the Dodgers knew that they had lost to a better team regardless of seeding and used the defeat as motivation.
“We used this to strengthen our team and work on what we needed to,” Adams said.
After only losing two seniors to graduation after last year’s runner up finish, practically the entire team was back for the Dodgers, ready to show everyone how much time and effort they had put into their offseason training. They lost three of their first 10 games, but then conceded only one more loss, going 38-4. They entered the state tournament as the No. 1 seed, only this time they didn’t finish their season on a loss.
Fort Dodge beat Ankeny Centennial in the state championship 2-0 to win their first ever state title. The win highlighted what the Dodgers and Coach Adams have been known for in the past: defense. This past season, Fort Dodge had 25 shutouts and never allowed more than nine runs in any game.
“This defense knows each other like the back of their hands,” Adams said. “They’ve been playing with each other for so long that it’s almost like an unspoken language that they have.”
Pair that with the stellar pitching of Adams’ daughter Jalen, who had an ERA of 0.66 along with 25 wins and 219 strikeouts this season, earning her first team all-state honors, and the Dodgers’ made it hard for any team to score on them.
However, this was not just something that happened overnight. This was a team and a season that has been years in the making.
“When I say this took years for this to happen I am not exaggerating,” Andi said. “This team worked for years ever since they were little playing with each other to make sure this could happen.”
Like a family, they would fight sometimes or have disagreements, but with the help of the coaching staff, they never lost sight of what they were all working for. And they always came together at the end of the day.
“I’m so proud that they did that with each other and they have for years,” Andi said.
This was a team that had a core of players that had been to four straight state tournaments and two straight state title games. It was a team that knew each other and knew how to play with each other. They were led not only by experienced coaches but experienced players. Along with Jalen, fellow first team all-state recipient Tristan Doster was one of those leaders.
“Those two are definitely the battery,” Andi said of Jalen and Doster.
Doster was one of the players that spearheaded the improvements the Dodgers made during the offseason. Due to the high level of pitching that they see year in and year out, one of the key things the girls worked on during the offseason to improve was their hitting.
Doster led the team with a .543 batting average and 13 home runs as Fort Dodge scored more than 10 runs in 20 of its games.
Although Doster graduated along with three other seniors, what they have helped create at Fort Dodge will last long after they have left.
“What we’ve created now is a hunger and a desire to win and be successful and a lot of people want to be a part of that,” Andi said.
For someone who takes pride in being a mother and a female coach, Andi loves to see how far the team has come and knows how many people have contributed to get Fort Dodge softball to where it is today. Besides her family, her husband, her parents and in-laws helping, it has taken a community to create a state champion.
“My staff makes me who I am as far as a coach,” Andi said. “I wouldn’t be nearly the coach I am without the staff and the support from in the offseason from the parents and everybody. It’s truly a community effort.”
Now that community enters another offseason with the same goal they entered the last offseason with: to get back to the state championship. They know it won’t be easy and the work required will be even more than what they did last year. But as a group that hungers for success, the Dodgers are ready for it.
