DES MOINES — The West Marshall softball team missed some chances to do damage.

The Thunder struck.

Second-ranked Grand View Christian put up a bunch of crooked numbers and knocked out No. 14 West Marshall 12-4 in five innings in Monday’s Class 2A Region 1 regional final at Hoover High School.

The Thunder (27-3) advanced to next week’s state softball tournament for the first time in school history, hanging an 8-spot on the Trojans (23-11) in the fourth inning to break open a close game. Grand View Christian led 4-3 before striking for eight runs on eight hits, and West Marshall’s rebuttal wasn’t enough to prolong their third-straight regional final loss.

The Trojans were toppled 7-2 at West Liberty last summer and 3-1 at Sumner-Fredericksburg two seasons ago — one win shy of their first state tournament berth since 2017.

“I’ve started all four years from my freshman year … and it’s been a lot of ups and downs,” said Rachel Randall, one of two seniors for West Marshall. “We always get to this game and then we just can’t seem to figure it out. It comes down to this game and then it doesn’t get any further than that, which sucks, it really does, but you win some, you lose some.”

Grand View Christian’s Chloe Cox and Harper Rosado homered on consecutive pitches in the team’s eight-run fourth, spurred by eight hits and a pair of West Marshall errors, and the Trojans couldn’t rebound in time to remain in the fight.

“We had some chances there early in the game to get a big hit with two outs but we couldn’t get them across,” head coach Jake Randall said. “But you still have a lead, so you feel pretty good about it. The hard part is, with a team like this and the firepower they have offensively, you don’t know if you ever feel comfortable with the lead against them.

The team seemed to run out of gusto after losing the lead in the bottom of the third. West Marshall scored single runs in the first, second and third innings, while Grand View Christian countered with two runs in the second and two more in the third for a 4-3 edge.

West Marshall won the first inning, sparked by Rachel’s one-out double. Ashtyn Blood slingled her home one pitch later, but was doubled off first base when Cailyn Brown’s line drive was snared by GVC first baseman Rosado.

The Trojans made it 2-0 in the second after back-to-back infield singles by Alayna Frederick and Aubree Greenwood. Olivia Randall worked a walk to load the bases, and Hattie McCollum hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Frederick, but two runners were left stranded.

Grand View Christian took advantage of West Marshall’s first of four errors in scoring two runs after a two-out bunt by Jada Rogers that was misplayed.

West Marshall scratched at the surface again in the third, but didn’t truly dig in. Blood singled again but slipped on the basepaths on Brown’s ensuing double to straightaway center field. Riley Randall’s RBI grounder was misplayed, but the Trojans left to runners on base in retaking a 3-2 lead.

Grand View Christian punched back and West Marshall never made it back to its feet.

The Thunder tallied two runs after a two-out walk to Cox in the bottom of the third. Rosado doubled and Grace Kruse blooped a single to center for the 4-3 lead.

West Marshall head coach Jake Randall emplored his dugout to keep burning with the fire it started with, but it had flickered too much to be maintained.

“It’s an ebb and flow,” coach Randall said. “You’ve got to continue to make things happen. We had them and then they answered back and it’s like ‘oh, maybe we don’t have them.’ That little sense of doubt comes into play and sometimes it tends to build, and sometimes it goes away if you take the lead back.”

Instead, a bloop single for Jenna Randall was all the Trojans had to show for their at-bat in the top of the fourth, and Grand View Christian blew it open in the bottom half.

Four singles preceded Cox’s seventh home run of the season — a three-run shot to make it 9-3 — and Rosado’s team-leading 10th homer came after a visit to Greenwood’s pitcher’s circle by coach Randall.

The Trojans’ battery, Randall and assistant coach Reagan McIlrath all appeared baffled by the events that had just transpired.

“We had it early where we were throwing our drop(ball) in and dropping in our changeup,” Randall said, “but I think there were a couple times that they hit that pitch or we weren’t getting the call, which then starts to minimize what you can throw. Against good hitting teams like that, that’s difficult.”

Grace Kruse and Leighton Beemer followed with singles, and an error with two outs let in another run. Coach Randall turned to Brown to get the final out, but her return to the circle following lengthy pitching drought yielded back-to-back walks to force home another run before the third out arrived.

West Marshall mustered up another run in the top of the fifth, sparked by Blood’s leadoff single. Brown reached on an error, and Frederick’s looping line drive to right field fell in and out of the glove of GVC’s Maci Brooker to plate Blood. A pair of line-drive outs off the bat of Greenwood and Olivia Randall ended the threat, however, sending the Trojans to their third-straight regional final defeat.

“We had a really good shot, we were all really high energy, and then those two (two-run) innings got to us,” Rachel Randall said. “I wouldn’t say that we got dead, but it’s a hard feeling to swallow. It tends to happen sometimes when we get down and then we get down on ourselves, and then it just gets quiet from there.

“Our energy was up in the first three innings when we were up, and then we kind of got scared, and you can’t get scared.”

Grand View Christian, who won the Heart of Iowa Conference crown thanks to a pair of narrow wins over West Marshall (4-0 and 3-2), took the third meeting by storm.

“Ultimately you gotta tip your cap to them, they’re a great hitting team and they do things really well,” coach Randall said. “But you know what? Our kids did not give up. We had some kids that had some really good nights at the plate, and at the beginning our defense played really well, we made some nice plays and had energy. Sometimes things get a little tight and things don’t go your way, but that’s just the way softball is sometimes.”

Grand View Christian has the top seed in the 2A bracket for next week’s new double elimination state softball tournament at Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge.

Maiah Murphy, Rosado, Kruse, Beemer and Morgan Pelham each had two of the Thunder’s 13 hits. Cox struck out six and walked one, allowing two earned runs on eight hits.

Greenwood struck out three and walked one in 4 2/3 innings, allowing seven earned runs on 13 hits. Blood went 3-for-3 at the plate to lead the Trojan bats.

Twin sisters Rachel and Riley Randall represent the only seniors on a West Marshall roster that features four starting freshmen and a trio of juniors.

“They really took a role in leadership this year and helped a group of young kids that are going to be a part of our program for about the same amount as they were,” coach Randall said. They’ve really left a lasting impact on us and I just couldn’t be more proud of what they’ve done and helped us out as a program to continue to be successful.

“The hard part about a night like this is you get to this game and it feels so close and then you don’t get there, and it’s a pretty tough one. But in the end, our kids had a great season and I just could not be more proud of them.”