As Greene County prepares to play in the Class 3A State Softball Tournament at Rogers Sports Complex north of Ft. Dodge next week, Raccoon Valley Radio looks at the eight qualifiers.Solon was the 2014 State runner-up in Class 4A while Greene County was third in 3A, Center Point-Urbana was sixth in 3A, and Clarke (Osceola) won the 3A State title.

Solon meet Clarke (Osceola), Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley faces Center Point-Urbana, the Rams take on Crestwood (Cresco) and Benton Community (Van Horne) goes against Mount Vernon in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, July 21.

Number one ranked Solon and number two Benton have traded places at various points of the season. The two teams split a 2-1, 1-0 doubleheader this season. Both are from the WAMAC Conference, as is Mount Vernon and Center Point-Urbana. The league has 16 teams in a two division format. Solon was the East Division winner with Mount Verson second and Benton won the West Division with CP-U the runner-up. CP-U is ranked eighth and Mount Vernon, coached by 1991 Jefferson-Scranton High School graduate Robin Olhausen Brand, is rated thirteenth.

Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley went unbeaten in Siouxland Conference play and did not give up a run in winning three postseason games to qualify for State. They are rated number 7 while 2014 3A Champion Clarke (Osceola) is the only team among the eight not rated. Clarke was the second place team in the South Central Conference. Crestwood was the Northeast Iowa Conference runner-up to 4A State qualifier Waverly-Shell Rock.

Greene County is ranked fourth and won the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference title by four games. Coach Tom Kennedy’s Rams and Crestwood will be on Raccoon Valley Radio on Tuesday, July 21 at 5:30 p.m. Coverage on KG98 begins at 5 p.m. and the game will also be streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.