Iowa City Regina tops Hinton at Iowa softball state tournament

FORT DODGE — A big early home run from Harper Erwin and the steady pitching of Lily Nibaur carried No. 4 seed Regina Catholic past No. 5 seed Hinton, 6-2, in the opening round of the Iowa state softball tournament.

Erwin belted a three-run bomb over the fence in the left-center field gap in the first inning, and Regina never trailed after that thanks in large part to Nibaur. She fired a one-hitter to help the Regals advance to face No. 8 seed Cardinal, a 4-3 upset winner over No. 1 Grand View Christian, in the Class 2A winner's bracket.

With the 2026 state tournament being the first in the new double-elimination format, the opening win was big for a Regina team looking to win its first state championship since going back-to-back in 2022-2023.

"I think it gives us a cushion in our minds," Nibaur said. "But our time is like, we're going to win these games. We don't want to play extra games."

Erwin set the tone early by hitting her first home run of the season and just the second of her career in the bottom of the first inning.

Regina had runners on the corners with two outs when Erwin stepped into the batter's box. Her father, Eric Erwin, had been dogging her all season about hitting a home run, so she decided to deliver at the perfect time.

"He came up to me and said, 'Atta kid, way to have one!'" Erwin said. "I gave him a chest bump."

That homer sparked Erwin to a 3-for-3 day at the plate. She led off the bottom of the fourth and sixth innings with a single, eventually scoring each time after Jordee Klein drove her in during the fourth and Chloe Rogers brought her home in the sixth.

Erwin's long ball also gave Nibaur plenty of cushion to work with. The Regal hurler limited Hinton to two hits, and she finished with three strikeouts and no walks.

"I always trust my defense," Nibaur said. "My defense has been amazing. They have been working really hard, and I really appreciate it."

Nibaur left it all out on the field, sliding into third base in the bottom of the fifth after reaching on a bunt single en route to scoring a big insurance run for her team.

"A little dirty and a little sweaty, and that makes it a bit harder to pitch," Nibaur said. "But I love getting down and dirty."

Regina will take a 22-10 record into their next state tournament game against Cardinal.

Hinton fell to 26-5 heading into their elimination game against Grand View Christian. Kayla Sypersma took the loss for the Blackhawks after giving up six runs on 10 hits.

Karlyn Kovarna reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly in the top of the second and Sydney Doeschot reached on an error and scored on a grounder from Cailyn Badar in the top of the fourth to account for the two Hinton runs.

Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City Regina tops Hinton at Iowa softball state tournament