The eight day wait from the regional final to the State Tournament is nearly over and the Greene County Rams play the first of their three State Softball Tournament games at 5:30 p.m. today at Rogers Sports Complex north of Ft. Dodge. Coach Tom Kennedy’s Rams are 30-6 on the season and ranked fourth in Class 3A. They’ll take on #9 Crestwood (Cresco) (25-5) in the quarterfinals. The winner advances to the semifinals on Thursday, July 23 at 1 p.m. vs. either Benton Community (40-3) or Mount Vernon (29-9). The Greene County/Crestwood loser meets the BC/MV loser on Wednesday, July 22 at 10 a.m. in a consolation semifinal. The fifth and seventh place games are at 4 p.m., also on July 22. The third place and championship games are Friday, July 24.

Crestwood was the runner-up in the six-team Northeast Iowa Conference to Class 4A State Tournament qualifier Waverly-Shell Rock. The Cadets have a .342 team batting average with 16 home runs and they average just over eight runs per game. Sophomore Lauren Reicks is the top Crestwood pitcher. She’s 18-3 with a 2.12 Earned Run Average. Reicks has 90 strikeouts and 28 walks in 145 innings pitched. Opponents are batting .188 against her.

Greene County has a .336 team batting average with 25 homers, and the Rams average 7.58 runs per contest. Senior Marissa Promes is the Rams’ pitcher with a 29-3 season record. Promes has thrown 211 innings and allowed 40 walks while fanning 228. Her ERA is 1.96 and opponents are batting .184 against her.

KG98 and www.raccoonvalleyradio.com will carry all three games involving the Rams with coverage starting 30 minutes before the scheduled first pitch.