IOWA CITY — Another championship chapter has been authored in this run of Johnston baseball dominance.
The top-seeded Dragons finished off a wire-to-wire season as the state's most potent squad, toppling Dowling Catholic, 11-1, in Friday's Class 4A title game at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City. The win gives Johnston (36-4) its fifth baseball championship since 2008 and its third since 2017.
"Back in the winter doing the simple throwing things, it's a long ride. And to just end it like this is great," Johnston's Will Nuss said. "This is what everyone dreams about. Just coming out and doing our job, it was amazing to see it all come together."
Disappointment hasn't served as motivation much during this multi-year surge of Johnston baseball, but that's exactly what fueled this campaign after the Dragons fell to Pleasant Valley in the 2021 title game. A repeat bid was denied. That feeling didn't sit well with those in purple and gold.
What followed was an emphatic run from May to July that saw Johnston rarely disturbed. All four of the Dragons' losses this season were part of doubleheaders, none of which occurred after June 27. State success had been just as strong.
That dominance showed up again Friday, as the Dragons shook off an early 1-0 Dowling Catholic lead and erupted for nine runs in the second and third innings. The six-run second was certainly Maroons-aided, but good teams don't miss taking advantage of opponent mistakes.
The first seven Dragons were on in the second, with only three of those reaching on base knocks. Meanwhile, the Maroons had as many errors and hit by pitches in the frame as Johnston had hits. The Dragons exited with a 6-1 advantage while severely deflating Dowling in the process. The Maroons (27-15) finished with five errors.
"There are probably 250 pitches in a game, and we're going to give everything we've got to every pitch," Johnston coach Michael Barta said. "And in that second inning, we took advantage of inside pitches, not swinging at bad pitches. And when we got our pitch, we crushed it.
"It was a huge inning. It put us on the way."
That was more than enough support for Johnston starter Pierce Anderson, who surrendered just four hits, one run and two walks with six strikeouts over six frames. He limited the Dowling scoring chances while his offense piled on more support. Will Nuss' RBI double in the third paired nicely with more Dowling miscues. Spencer Campidilli and Cade Godwin added multi-hit performances as well.
Credit Dowling for a nice Iowa City run as the No. 6 seed, which included wins over eastern Iowa's top squad Cedar Rapids Prairie and Iowa City High. But there was just too much Johnston to handle on this evening.
"We knew we had to work hard," Anderson said, "and get the job done this time."
Dargan Southard covers Iowa and UNI athletics, recruiting and preps for the Des Moines Register, HawkCentral.com and the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.