The countdown of Norwalk’s top 10 sports stories from the past school year continues today with number five. For the third consecutive year, the Warrior softball team won at least 30 games and finished their season at the Class 4A State Tournament in Fort Dodge.
Starting the season 11-0 and later adding a nine-game winning streak, Norwalk battled one of the state’s toughest schedules. The Warriors won eight out of 13 games against 5A opponents and went 16-2 in the Little Hawkeye Conference, sharing the league title with Dallas Center-Grimes for the second straight year. They punched their ticket back to state with regional shutout wins of 7-0 over Ballard and 4-0 vs. Pella.
Norwalk was defeated by North Scott 2-0 in the 4A state quarterfinals – one year after losing to the Lancers 6-4 in the 2023 semifinal round. The Warriors bounced back to defeat their top rival, DC-G, 3-1 in a consolation game, tying for fifth place in the 4A bracket and finishing 30-8 overall.
Norwalk graduates six senior starters off the team in Lauren Black, Jaylynn Brandt, Grace Dehmer, Olivia Dougherty, Addi Downe and Jada Livingston. Head coach Beau Livingston tells KNIA Sports that this senior class is a special group that changed the face of the program with their accomplishments over the last three years.
“I think without a doubt they’re the best class to ever go through and play softball here at Norwalk,” he said. “In the last three years we won over 90 games (against a very tough schedule). I think we’re winning at an 80 percent clip in those three years. Man, it’s just a special group that I am so proud of.”
Norwalk’s 33 home runs ranked third in Class 4A and the team’s 1.61 earned run average ranked fifth. Junior pitcher Carly Brewer went 10-6 with four saves and a 1.31 ERA. Dougherty was 14-2 with three saves and 2.03 ERA. They combined for 235 strikeouts in 198 innings. Junior Nyah Hulbert spearheaded the offense with a .488 batting average, 24 extra-base hits, 42 runs scored and 19 stolen bases. Black clubbed 11 home runs and had 44 runs-batted in. Brewer batted .419 with 13 doubles.