One year ago, Pella Christian’s softball team was a group of road warriors and one foot short from what would have been a surprising visit to Fort Dodge. This year, the Eagles are heavy favorites to make it the state softball tournament as a Regional round host, and they hope a long postseason journey begins tonight against Van Meter.

Senior catcher Tessa Howerzyl says that their ultimate goal is to win the entire tournament, but it’ll be a matter of making every play count if they want to avoid an abrupt end to their season along the way.

“We always talk a lot about focus, and I think focus is a big thing,” Howerzyl says. “Because we know we can make the plays, we know we can pitch well, and we know we have great defense.”

Senior outfielder Abby Pleima tells KNIA/KRLS Sports that it’s going to also take a little bit of swagger to get past the solid group of teams standing between them and late July game in Fort Dodge.

“I think it’s going to take some confidence, I think we have a lot of young girls on our team,” Pleima says, “…and I just think everyone needs to believe that we can do it.”

The 22-9 Eagles will take on a 18-13 Bulldogs squad that won eight of their final ten games of the regular season. Pregame coverage begins immediately following the Marion County PM Sports Page this evening at 6:45 p.m. on 92.1 KRLS, with Cory Houser on the call.