Estherville, Ia (Northwest Iowa Now) – We are winding down our features on the 2024-2025 KICD Teams of the Year as we now start the summer sports with Softball.
Estherville Lincoln Central had strung together back-to-back 30+ win seasons in 2023 and 2024 and were looking to cap off their Senior Class’s brilliant run with another successful year.
ELC wouldn’t take their first loss until June 6th during one of the State’s top regular season Tournaments hosted by Atlantic. An 8-0 Estherville Lincoln Central team fell 11-2 to a ranked 4A team in Carlisle who come from the State’s toughest Softball Conference, the Racoon River. ELC would also take a loss to Riverside in Atlantic, only walking away with 1 win against the host school.
After rattling off 4 really competitive wins against strong programs in Newman Catholic of Mason City, Newell-Fonda, Sioux Central, and Storm Lake, Estherville Lincoln Central fell in a 2-0 shutout loss to perennial power Fort Dodge at home.
It was off to another legendary regular season Tournament i9n Roland, hosted by Roland-Story, the R-S Kiwanis Softball Tournament. There, ELC went 2-1, beating Central Springs and Humboldt while dropping to Mount Vernon.
They took a road trip to Alleman on July 24th to play another Racoon River Conference opponent in North Polk, losing 5-2. That would begin a tough stretch where Estherville Lincoln Central lost 3 of 5, including a 4-1 loss to Pocahontas Area at the St. Edmond Softball Invitational in Fort Dodge, then a 11-2 loss at the hands of Algona.
Estherville Lincoln Central entered the postseason and had no trouble with 3A Region in the first 2 rounds, outscoring Western Christian of Hull and Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley by a combined 16-1.
Standing in their way of yet another State Tournament appearance was one of their losses on the season in Algona, who topped them 11-2 on July 1st.
This game was one of the best this sportscaster has seen. It was scoreless through 7 innings of play, sending it in to extras. In the 8th, Algona struck first, going up 1-0. ELC was able to tie it in the bottom half, sending it to the 9th. ELC traded 0s for 3 more innings with the Bulldogs. In the 12th inning, Algona pushed across the go ahead run. The Bulldog defense had ELC on the ropes, 2 outs with nobody on. The Estherville Lincoln Central experienced lineup was able to rally though. They would tie it up, and then Haylee Stokes drove in Cara Schiltz for the winning run, sending ELC back to the State Tournament.
In the Class 3A State Quarterfinals at Fort Dodge, Albia was able to beat Estherville Lincoln Central 2-1, sending ELC in to a Consolation game where they would beat Washington 3-1.
Rylee Yager could do it all for Estherville Lincoln Central. The Senior had a batting average of .515 with an OPS of 1.266. She led the team in Hits, doubles, and triples while also throwing an ERA of .70, WHIP of .66, and a strikeout rate of 11.1 per 7 innings.
Along with Yager, Addison Hooge, Hillary Ruschy, Cara Schiltz, and Haley Stokes all batted north of .300 on the year. Ruschy launched 6 home runs and led ELC with 33 RBI.
Estherville Lincoln Central graduates 4 of their top 9 at bat getters, all in which were in the top 5 of team OPS.
2026 will be a very Junior Heavy team, with Addison Hooge leading the offensive charge after batting .385 with an OPS of .870. Only 16 of the 196 innings pitched by athletes other than Senior Rylee Yager in 2025.
This has been another team of the year feature from Northwest Iowa Now.
