-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Lucy Porter of Fort Dodge slide underneath western Dubuque Kaitlyn Thole during 4A consolations finals on Tuesday at Rogers Park

The final game of the season is often viewed as the end of something.

Fort Dodge head coach Andi Adams is hoping her team’s Class 4A state softball consolation victory on Tuesday at Dodger Field is just the beginning.

The fifth-seeded Dodgers prevailed in a seesaw affair with No. 8 seed Western Dubuque to close 2024 on a high note, rallying and then hanging on for a 7-6 victory.

A little over 20 hours after being edged late in the quarterfinals by Adel-ADM, Fort Dodge (31-13 overall) rebounded to edge the Bobcats (29-11) in a game that saw 22 hits and a slew of close plays, close calls and plenty of scoring opportunities.

“That was quite a battle,” Adams admitted afterward. “It had a little bit of everything. They’re a really good ballclub with a lot of talented bats. We had some timely hits, clutch baserunning and a few phenomenal defensive plays.

“It was kind of a micorcosm of our season. Despite our (imperfections), we scratched and clawed and showed resilience. Not many teams are able to end the season with a win. Our kids should be proud of what they accomplished.”

The Dodgers fell behind 4-1 early after home runs by Western Dubuque’s Melanie Runde and Kiya Steger. A four-run third inning put Fort Dodge ahead, though, and two runs in the fifth were just enough for relief pitcher Aubrey Alstott and the defense to close the door.

“A rollercoaster,” Adams said. “Everyone contributed in their own way, which is when we’re at our best.”

Freshman Ellie Doster had a pair of RBI singles, and junior Ashlyn Wills delivered a two-run single of her own. Lucy Porter singled three times and scored twice.

Sophomore Maeleena Meyer got the comeback going in the third with a double. She was plated on a sharp infield single by junior Meah McCaleb.

McCaleb started a pair of double plays with defensive gems in the hot corner, ending Bobcat threats in the third and fourth innings.

Alstott (12-2), making her state tourney debut as just an eighth grader, weaved in and out of trouble. She allowed seven hits in 4ª innings of work, but stranded the bases loaded in the sixth and two runners on in the seventh with Western Dubuque a run away from knotting things up both times.

Alstott had a phenomenal diving shovel toss to narrowly cut down Steger at home for the second out in the seventh. Racquel Fern then hit a line shot right at Alstott, who calmly knocked it down, collected herself and fired to first for the final out.

“Aubrey got the outs when she needed them. This was a valuable experience for her,” Adams said. “We had a few errors (four), but we made up for it by getting out of some jams. Meah was absolutely huge for us at third.

“This is such a weird day (the consolation round). You’re kind of in a daze (from losing the night before) and it’s sometimes hard to get refocused. It would have been easy after (Monday’s loss or the early three-run deficit) to kind of check out, but our girls kept fighting and didn’t let (the adversity and disappointment) get to them.”

The sixth-ranked Dodgers, who were just the 12th program all-time to make a seventh consecutive state tournament appearance, are slated to lose only Mackenzie McIlrath and Macy Brown to graduation in 2025.

“Mac and Macy have given so much time, effort and energy to our program and school and we couldn’t thank them more. Two phenomenal workers and people,” Adams said. “We made it to state, and as I’ve reminded people over and over again this week, that is a tremendous accomplishment that should never be taken for granted. Only eight get here (from each class), and we’ve been that (every year since 2018).

“We’ve come a long way, but we all have a lot of work to do. The first step is always clearing the state hurdle. But we want to be more than just a qualifier. So we have to be both appreciative of making it, but not show complacency when we do.”

Fort Dodge has been the de facto tourney host as a qualifier in nine of the last 10 years overall.

FORT DODGE 7, WESTERN DUBUQUE 6

W. Dubuque 112 101 0 — 6 13 2

Fort Dodge 014 020 x — 7 9 4

WP–Aubrey Alstott (4.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K). LP–Hannah Hoefer (7-6; 4 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 1 K). 2B–FD: Maeleena Meyer, Hope Alstott; WD: Kaitlyn Thole. HR–WD: Melanie Runde, Kiya Steger.