The Norwalk Warriors’ quest for a championship ended in the first round of the State Softball Tournament on Monday with a 2-0 loss to North Scott. The Class 4A quarterfinal at Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge was heard live on 94.3 KNIA as well as the KNIA3 stream.

The sixth-seeded Lancers scored the game’s only runs in the top of the first inning. Senior Sydney Skarich hit a leadoff double, Alynna Nelson was hit-by-pitch, and Laney Welge and McKinley Toohey had RBI infield singles. 

The third-seeded Warriors threatened to score multiple times, but could not get the big hit they needed against North Scott pitcher Chevelle Kingsley. Norwalk put their leadoff runner on base four times and had at least one runner in scoring position in five out of seven innings. The Lancers turned in a series of brilliant defensive plays behind Kingsley, who finished with a three-hit shutout, walked one batter and struck out four. Warrior pitcher Carly Brewer recorded 11 strikeouts in seven innings, but took the hard-luck defeat.

Norwalk coach Beau Livingston tells KNIA Sports that North Scott was the better team on Monday. Livingston says he felt like the big hit was coming for his team all day, but it just never happened. “That’s the game sometimes,” he said. “We hit a lot of balls hard early and right to them, and I thought their center fielder [Kamilah Eller] made a couple of really nice plays as well as some other fielders they had. We spotted them two and just could never get back the momentum. It wasn’t a lack of effort, it wasn’t a lack of preparation. It’s just – that’s the game sometimes.”

Nyah Hulbert, Jaylynn Brandt and Maddie Gullion all singled for the Warriors and Grace Dehmer drew a walk. Skarich finished 3-for-4 at the plate for North Scott, which improved to 31-5 and advanced to Wednesday’s semifinal round against Carlisle.

Norwalk, now 29-8, will finish their season today with a consolation game against conference rival Dallas Center-Grimes at 12:15. The game will be carried live on 94.3 KNIA and kniakrls.com (KNIA3). Pregame coverage begins at approximately 12:00 p.m.