One hurdle stands in the way of the Adel-Desoto-Minburn Tigers softball team (35-7 overall) and their place atop Iowa High School Softball. The top-seeded Tigers face off in today’s Class 4A championship game against the Des Moines Hoover Huskies, the bracket’s sixth seed. The Tigers advanced to the championship game by defeating a pair of Little Hawkeye Conference opponents in the Dallas Center-Grimes Fillies (9-1) in Tuesday’s quarterfinal and the Newton Cardinals (9-8) in Wednesday’s semifinals. ADM is in the championship game for the first time since 1995 when they finished second in the Class 2A bracket. The former Adel Community Schools won the fall softball championship in 1970.

There’s evidence to consider Des Moines Hoover to be Class 4A’s Cinderella story this summer. Hoover won all three regional games on the road, including wins against Raccoon River Conference schools Bondurant-Farrar (5-2) and defending Class 4A Champion Winterset (8-3). The Huskies topped second-seeded Charles City, 7-2, in the state quarterfinal Tuesday and beat seventh-seeded Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 12-1, in a five-inning semifinal game. Hoover is playing in the state softball tournament for the first time since 1982, the same year they won their only state title. Raccoon Valley Radio Sports Director Shawn Kenney will call today’s Class 4A State Championship game on True Country K 107.9, raccoonvalleyradio.com, and the KKRF mobile app. Pregame coverage starts at 5:20 p.m and the first pitch from Fort Dodge takes place around 5:45 p.m.