Linn (23-6) finished the softball season as the fourth-place team in Class 2 after Friday’s 10-2 loss to the Chaffee Lady Devils in the third-place game at Killian Softball Complex.

“It’s always an accomplishment when you make it to state,” said Coach Ryan Rost. “It definitely wasn’t our goal this year, being here last year, too. But, we gave it a really good (try) the first game, and that’s a (solid) Chaffee team. They came out hitting the ball really hard and kind of jumped on us; we never could get any momentum going. We’d get a few hits, and then, you know, they’d make a couple of great plays, and we just couldn’t get anything rallying up. So, I mean, it is disappointing, but, you know, at the same time, like, it’s a huge honor for these girls to make it here, back-to-back years.”

Following the earlier loss to Highland in eight innings, Coach Rost said he knew it would sting for a while, but that had to be set aside for the late game. “It’s hard to regroup,” Rost said. “I thought we did a really good job. We got lunch, (and) cleared our heads. We came back ready to go.”

Unfortunately, Chaffee was ready to go as well, scoring in every inning but the seventh.

“Tip your hat to Chaffee,” said Rost. “They jumped on us early and didn’t give us any wiggle room to fight back. “That’s what good teams do. I thought mentally we were there for how tough the situation was playing that second game. I was really proud of how we handled ourselves.”

Chaffee scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, one in the second, three in the third for a 7-0 lead.

Ava Warren started the game and went 2.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and a walk. Sophie Voss, in 3.1 innings of relief, allowed three earned on six hits with four strikeouts and a walk.

“I thought both of our pitchers did a really good job,” said Rost. “Our defense kind of let Ava down early and let them get some runs that they shouldn’t have. The game should have been a lot closer early on, but Sophie did a great job coming in, holding them steady, and giving us a chance to try and claw back. We just came up short.”

The Lady Cats scored both runs in the frame after Kylie Peters reached on an error, and Kiana Hostetler (1-2, 2 RBI) smashed the ball over the center-field fence. That was her second long-hit ball of the game. “She missed that first one by about two feet,” said Rost. “That girl caught it jumping back into the (left-field) wall, so it was good to see her get that payback pitch, and she hit that second one a lot farther.”

Hannah Hackmann went 2-3 with a pair of singles, while Dudenhoeffer (double), Warren, and Elizabeth Sprenger each added a hit.

Because of last year’s poor weather, Linn played its third-place game on a side field. This year, they played in the main arena. “The stadium was really cool,” said Rost. “I’m glad the girls got to experience that and actually get that part of the Final Four.”

The Lady Wildcats claimed state hardware for the fourth time in school history and won the inaugural Central State 8 conference championship. “We had a heck of a season,” said Rost. “The last two games didn’t go the way we wanted them to, but it doesn’t take away from all of our accomplishments this year. It’ll hurt for a while, but we’ll be back.”

Rost noted he has four or five girls there on the bench who can enter the game at any given point. “We have nine girls out there that can hit just a little better,” he added. “In different situations, I trust all of them coming in.”