Iowa
Underdog to top dog: Iowa City Liberty has same approach as last year
IOWA CITY — The hunter is now the hunted.
The sentiment my be saturated with hyperbole but in the course of a year Iowa City Liberty went from unexpected qualifier to a favorite for another state berth.
After being a lower seed a year ago, the No. 9 Lightning have been a mainstay in the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association rankings and earned the No. 1 seed in Class 4A Substate 8 bracket that begins Friday.
Liberty (24-13) has qualified for state the last two years and opens the postseason at home against sixth-seeded Waterloo East (13-18).
“I think where the experience helps us the most is that It keeps us grounded,” Liberty Coach Uby Martinez said. “We were that team that people were kind of looking by and looking ahead to the substate final.
“We know anything can happen. We’ve been that team two years in a row. We’re not going to take it for granted. We still have to do our job and play our game. If we’re going to win, we have to be sharp, regardless.”
The approach is the same as last season. The Lightning were the only ones that didn’t receive notice they weren’t supposed to win. They felt poised for the postseason run. Liberty will bring a similar confidence and won’t take any wins for granted.
“Last year, we knew we had the pieces and knew we weren’t really the underdogs,” Lightning senior Ryan Schmierer said. “Everyone around us thought we were the underdogs.
“We still know who we are and where we can be. We saw that earlier this year. It’s the same approach where we’re going to be aggressive, attack and play our kind of baseball. See where it goes from there.”
The Lightning went 2-2 in their last four regular-season games. They did close with an 8-2 victory over 3A No. 7 Solon. Martinez has noticed rediscovered energy from the players, who were bouncing around and enjoying Wednesday’s batting practice. They were ready to get back at it again Thursday.
“I feel we’re at a really good place,” Martinez said. “They were excited about practice today and wanted to know if the cages would be open early. It’s never going to be a thing about ability for us. It’s going to be more about focus. We’re back in to where we need to be.”
One perk for top seeds is a second-round bye to the substate final with a first-round win. The bracket would allow Liberty to use ace Mason Waterbury in each game. Waterbury has been nearly untouchable, posting a 9-0 record with a rare 0.14 earned-run average over 51 innings in 10 appearances. He has allowed just one earned run and only five total, striking out 53.
“It’s huge,” Schmierer said. “The entire team knows when Waterbury is on the mound, we not only have a chance to win but we’re going to win. The consistency that he has brought this year has been incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. He carries himself in such a good way, too, that the team loves him and we all rally around him. We feed off his energy that he brings to the table.”
Schmierer has made his own impact as well. He sits at the top of the lineup, leading the Lightning with 48 hits and 23 RBIs. Schmierer is batting .393 with a .456 on-base percentage.
“I’ll do anything to get on base,” Schmierer said. “I’ll do the dirty work. I’ll bunt. I will take pitches, trying to work counts and get walks. I’ll take pitches so my teammates can see what the pitcher is throwing. I just do anything to help out the team and get us to be the best we can be.
“Anything to put us in better position to win.”
Liberty has a streak going and its own aspirations to reach the state tournament July 22-26 at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids. The Lightning have faith in their ability to advance, making a run at an all-time best finish.
“It’s been our goal all year,” Schmierer said. “This year we have the pieces and tools to make it to the state tournament and do some damage at state and wins some games there.”
Along with Liberty, top-seeded Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Linn-Mar and Iowa City High will host first-round games. The top-ranked Cougars face Waterloo West at Herkelman Field on Friday in 4A Substate 5.
Linn-Mar, ranked No. 6, welcomes Cedar Rapids Jefferson in 4A Substate 6 at Oak Ridge Middle School. Third-ranked Iowa City High hosts Clinton in 4A Substate 7 at Mercer Park. Iowa City West travels to Cedar Rapids Prairie for another 4A Substate 7 first-round game.
Cedar Rapids Washington travels to Southeast Polk for 4A Substate 3 competition.
In Class 3A, No. 2 Marion will host South Tama. Cedar Rapids Xavier hosts Nevada. The winner of both games will face off in the 3A Substate 6 semifinals Monday.
Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com
With June rapidly finishing up, that means the Iowa high school softball season is preparing to enter the stretch run of the year.
The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union State Softball Tournament will begin Monday, July 20, in Fort Dodge at Rogers Park, bringing together many of the top teams and players in the state. High School On SI Iowa currently provides a Top 25 state softball power rankings, so now, we need to see who the top players are.
Below are the nominees for the High School On SI Iowa Class 1A Softball Midseason Player of the Year in each classification. Stats listed with the player are from Bound and based on those numbers imputed as of June 26, 2026 at noon CT.
Feel free to vote as many times as you like, with voting set to close on Friday, July 3, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. CT.
High School On SI Iowa Class 1A Softball Midseason Player Of The Year Nominees
Rachel Eglseder, Edgewood-Colesburg, Senior
Eglseder owns a 16-5 record, striking out 225 batters with a 1.66 earned run average while adding 11 extra-base hits and 40 RBI at the plate.
Rylee Mudderman, Kee, Junior
Mudderman continues to be a difficult out, batting .488 this season with two homers, 11 doubles and four triples. She has driven in 38 and scored 35 times, stealing 10 bases.
Faith Shirbroun, St. Edmond, Senior
Speaking of tough outs, Shirbroun owns a batting average of .606 this season, recording seven homers, 17 doubles and five triples. She has driven in 36 and scored 37 times, stealing 22 bases while setting several school records for hitting.
Sydney Lovrien, Clarksville, Senior
The ace for the defending state champions, Lovrien is 13-5 with 100 strikeouts in 86 innings pitched. She also has 23 hits and 21 RBI at the plate.
Sam Kruckenberg, Mason City Newman Catholic, Senior
A veteran now, Kruckenberg owns an 18-4 record with 227 strikeouts and a 1.23 earned run average. She is batting .440 with five homers, 11 doubles and 23 RBI at the plate.
About Our Midseason Player of the Year Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.
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The Iowa chapter of the Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA) officially opened a new facility on its 80-acre demonstration farm in Marshall County Thursday.
Iowa LICA President Scott Bohle said having classroom and meeting space will make it easier to educate the next generation of professional contractors, along with government employees, lawmakers and students, to help conserve soil and water in the state.
Bohle said the building “gives people a place to gather, collaborate and continue the important work that defines our association.”
Just outside the new space are wetlands, terraces, sediment control basins, bioreactors and other features, which members have built since LICA purchased the farm near Melbourne in 2000.
“We call it the one-stop shop, where you can see anything being put to practice by our landowners,” said Kelby Kiefer, executive director of Iowa LICA.
Together, these “edge-of-field” practices remove 50% of phosphates and almost 100% of the nitrates from the runoff of a 1,000-plus acre watershed, according to the association.
Adding more wetlands, saturated buffers and bioreactors across the state are a key part of Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy. It aims to cut nitrogen and phosphorus losses from farm fields by 41% and 29%, respectively.
The strategy is part of a broader effort to reduce nutrient pollution in the state’s waterways and the Gulf of Mexico by 45% compared to the 1980-96 baseline period. It does not include a target date.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the state has accelerated edge-of-field practices in recent years, in part through the Batch and Build model. The approach bundles projects in a targeted watershed to reduce costs and save time for farmers and contractors.
Nearly 150 nitrate reducing wetlands and around 500 saturated buffers, bioreactors and multi-purpose oxbows had been built in the state as of 2024. Thousands more will be needed to meet the state’s nutrient reduction targets.
“[Clean water is] something we need to be focused on, and we can be proud of the work that’s happened, but we know that we need to do more,” Naig said. “Buildings like this help.”
Naig said scaling up conservation infrastructure across the state will require more skilled contractors. He described them as the “critical link” between concepts and “getting things on the ground.”
“It’s from that point where you say, ‘We have a design that’s ready to go, a willing landowner,’ but somebody needs to make it happen,” Naig said. “The land improvement contractor sits in that very important spot.”
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Mark Roering returned to Iowa City Regina 30 years after serving as an assistant coach, and in just two seasons, he has transformed the Regals into one of Class 2A’s most dangerous teams.
“I was a senior in college. I just had finished playing baseball myself and was doing high school in the summers. Had one of those magical seasons here losing in the state finals,” Roering said. “I was just ready for something new.”
Prior to being hired at Iowa City Regina in 2024, Roering coached nine seasons at Dowling Catholic, where he helped the Maroons reach the state tournament six times. Regina was below .500 in three of the four seasons before his arrival. His first season at the helm, Regina went 22-6.
“I think the biggest difference is practice. Everybody is so much more locked in. Really that just comes from him. He gets on us everyday, he has to make the drive and hour and a half every day so we want to give that back to him for all the time and effort he’s put into us,” junior Trey Streb said.
Streb also described Roering as a very emotional coach who cares deeply about the team and winning.
The Regals’ bats have become a significant threat. Regina ranks fifth in the state and second in Class 2A with a .379 batting average and has the fourth fewest strikeouts among state teams.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced and it’s been super competitive and it’s nice to be with people who want to win and will do whatever it takes to win,” senior Emmett Burke said.
The team already sits at 20 wins with eight regular season games remaining.
Roering said the transformation comes when players start believing they can win in any situation.
“Winning is contagious just like losing is contagious,” Roering said. “Kids they start believing and it gets really dangerous you know that they can win no matter what situation they’re in.”
The turnaround has positioned the Regals to make a postseason run. With only one senior on the roster, the team could remain a threat next season.
“No matter what, we’re going to fight and we’re not going to roll over. We’re going to do what we need to do to win,” Burke said.
“We’re big competitors. We don’t accept defeat and I think that’s one of my favorite parts about this team,” Streb added.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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