Libby Winters and the PCM Monroe softball team may have come up short against Dubuque Wahlert in the semifinals of the Iowa high school state softball tournament on Wednesday, July 24. Still, the freshman might have made the play of the tournament against Wahlert, and arguably the season.
With two Dubuque Wahlert runners on base, the Golden Eagles’ Anna Roling hit what looked like a three-run home run— until Winters, playing center field, leaped toward the fence and reached over to make the catch, robbing Roling and Wahlert of the runs.
Winters would finish the game going 2-4 at the plate, and PCM would lose 7-1 to Dubuque Wahlert, who now face Williamsburg in the 3A state championship on July 25.
Iowa state softball makes ESPN ‘SportsCenter’ Top 10
After the game, a video of Winters’ athletic feat circulated online and eventually caught the attention of ESPN staff, which ranked the play No. 2 on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the day.
Winters delivered clutch performances throughout PCM’s tournament run. Two days earlier, on July 21, with PCM trailing West Liberty 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh of the state quarterfinals, she tied the game with a two-run triple to center and then scored the winning run on a West Liberty error.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: PCM Monroe player makes spectacular catch in Iowa high school softball state tournament
Reporting by Cooper Worth, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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