LE GRAND — East Marshall softball is playing with a winning combination entering the state tournament.

A high-scoring offense, matched with a strong defense led by ace pitcher Morgan Neuroth, has the Mustangs galloping into Tuesday’s Class 2A state quarterfinal with Lisbon in Fort Dodge.

East Marshall (32-4) is the No. 4 seed in the 2A tournament and will take on the fifth-seeded Lions (27-12) at 12:45 p.m. on Iowa Central Field at the Rogers Sports Complex.

The Mustangs outscored their regional tournament opposition, 32-3, including an 11-1, five-inning victory over Ogden to reach their first state tournament since 2019.

“That says a lot for our offense,” East Marshall head coach Jary Hoskey said. “We had some struggles in the home stretch of the regular season with the bottom of our lineup getting hits, but lately we’ve had [Ashtyn] Wheater, [Libby] Atcher, and [Makayla] Kerber setting the table for the kids in the start of our batting order to drive in more runs.”

Wheater, hitting in the No. 7 spot in the Mustangs’ lineup, hit a grand slam in the game against Ogden and is tied with Peyton Grabenbauer and Bailey Grant leading the team with four home runs each this season. All three are hitting over .400 this summer, as are Rayne McIlrath (.410) and Neuroth (.425).

“This is what we’ve been working for,” said McIlrath. “Most of our whole lineup has been in the gym working on things since December, and so we’ve really worked hard for this and I’m just glad that it’s paying off.

“This is what the seniors have wanted to do all five years.”

As a team, East Marshall’s team batting average of .351 is second only to West Monona (.383) among 2A qualifiers and the Mustangs have hit 95 doubles as well to lead all classes.

“Our hitting and our defense was a big thing that improved from last year,” Kerber said. “And just seeing how we played together last year, we knew we would have a shot this year.”

Neuroth’s offense serves to help her own cause in the pitching circle. The DMACC commit leads all pitchers on 2A state-qualifying teams with 271 strikeouts compared to just 23 walks and 37 earned runs allowed in 179 2/3 innings.

“She’s a gamer,” Hoskey said. “And she’s probably as hard on herself as anybody, if she ever makes a bad pitch, she’ll say, ‘Hey, that’s my fault.’ … I like her on the mound for us, I’ll put it that way. She’s one of the best pitchers in Central Iowa.”

Lisbon’s road to Fort Dodge included victories over Denver (7-0), Jesup (12-1) and a 4-2 squeaker with Osage in the regional finals.

The Lions are in their first season after legendary head coach Bob Bunting stepped down, and lost six seniors from last year’s squad, but are back in the state tournament for the seventh-consecutive season.

They’re a hard-hitting squad with 25 home runs as a team this season, second only to Northeast (32) among 2A qualifiers. Addi Petersen has seven of those roundtrippers with a .348 average; Sarah Dietsch adds six homers with 28 RBI and a .367 average.

“I think we have a chance at any team that we play as long as we go into it with the mentality that we have been the past few games,” said East Marshall senior Ava Bringmann. “We’ve just got to carry that momentum into the state tournament and I think if we keep that mindset we’ve been going on we’ll be A-OK.”

Lisbon eighth-grader Kyla Kahl has thrown 163 1/3 innings with 136 strikeouts, 84 walks and 73 earned runs, which would point on paper to a statistical advantage in the circle for the Mustangs.

But all bets are off when dealing with a team that knows the ropes of the state tournament like Lisbon.

The Lions tied for fifth last year; Lisbon is looking for its first opening-round win at state since 2021, when it finished as state runner-up.

“Lisbon’s good, that’s why they’re at state,” Hoskey said. “We’ll have to play awfully good to be competitive with them.”

This week will be filled with moments worth remembering, regardless of the end results, Hoskey said. Neuroth, McIlrath, Kerber and Bringmann are the four seniors that will end their high school careers at the state tournament.

“I think that all the girls just need to absorb everything, the aura of being at the state tournament,” Hoskey added. “The magnitude of this is something they should never forget — I know my daughters never forgot it, it just sticks with you. … These four seniors have driven us where we need to go. They’ve come in on the weekends starting in January and been there steady throughout. They’ve set an example of what it takes for us to be successful and amplified that.

“Even the younger girls need to take this in and know that they are one of the eight best 2A teams in Iowa, that this is something they can take and continue to build on after the season ends.”