The kick off to another memorable top five moments countdown for Pella High School doesn’t take us too far back in the “wayback machine” — it was the final team wearing green and white in 2021-22 coming in at No. 5 from the month of July.
Sometimes, at a school where expectations for success are high in nearly every sport, fine art, and other competitive realm, the unexpected can be even more fun. The Pella baseball team was solid in the 2022 regular season, but certainly not “exceptional” and had their flaws with a 20-14 record entering the playoffs in a bracket that featured two of Iowa’s top pitching aces in Beau Leisure from Knoxville and Brady Steward of Grinnell.
But the Dutch — already a tight-knit group in the dugout, started playing their best baseball of the season as the regular calendar concluded, and showed they were was as dangerous as any team in Class 3A Substate 7. However, postseason success has been far removed from the boys of summer from the Tulip City — the Dutch hadn’t won a postseason game since they last qualified for state in 2016.
Well, maybe they were saving up the wins, as Pella marched over Knoxville 8-2 in the opener – shocking the Panthers and chasing Leisure from the game in the 5th inning.
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PELLA VS KNOXVILLE POSTSEASON HIGHLIGHTS:
After 9-2 domination of Newton in the semifinals fueled by Pitcher Keegan Hansen’s gem, the Dutch took on then #3-ranked Grinnell; a Tigers team that swept the season conference series.
PELLA VS NEWTON HIGHLIGHTS:
The formula of excellent pitching from Jason Knox and smallball from the bottom and top of the Pella lineup enabled the road team underdogs to score twice — including a daring suicide squeeze bunt by Quinn Rhamy, and Knox locked down the final nine outs after to claim a bid to state (HIGHLIGHTS BELOW):
It’s the 4th time in school history Pella qualified for the state baseball tournament. The Dutch later fell to Davenport Assumption in the state quarterfinals.
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