The Iowa Park Lady Hawks are very familiar with deep playoff runs, but the 2026 Lady Hawks have raised the bar and are set to complete a historic season at the UIL Softball State Championships in Austin for the first time on the strength of one of the Lone Star State’s longest winning streaks
After a string of several strong regular-season finishes throughout the 2020s, this season marks the fourth time in five years that Iowa Park has reached the UIL Softball State Semifinals.
The Lady Hawks will also be looking to secure their first UIL softball state title during their first appearance in a UIL Softball State Championship game in school history.
Iowa Park lost in the Class 4A UIL state semifinals to Corpus Christi Calallen (10-9) and Liberty (5-3) in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The Lady Hawks also fell 2-0 to Whitesboro in the 3A DII state semifinals last season.
This time around, though, the Lady Hawks haven’t just been good; they have dominated their postseason competition thus far.
The Lady Hawks have been virtually perfect throughout their postseason run. They boast a perfect 9-0 postseason record in playoff games and have claimed five consecutive series sweeps through the first five rounds of the 2026 UIL Softball Playoffs.
Iowa Park has beaten its playoff opponents by an average of 10.8 runs per contest, which comes on the heels of a lengthy winning streak that punctuated the end of the Lady Hawks’ regular-season schedule.
The Lady Hawks will head to the 3A DI UIL state title game riding an 18-game winning streak that stretches back to early March.
A major reason for Iowa Park’s success on the softball diamond this season has been its potent lineup and prolific offensive firepower.
The Lady Hawks are driving in an average of 7.5 runs per game this year because of their dangerously deep lineup anchored by junior catcher and leadoff hitter Halli Kennedy, junior third baseman and cleanup hitter Bailey Martinez, senior center fielder Jacie Barnes and junior left fielder Rowan Pike.
Kennedy holds a team-leading .456 batting average, while seven of the nine everyday starters in Iowa Park’s lineup are hitting above .300 this year.
Senior pitcher Callista Berrett also provides Iowa Park with a strong, reliable arm in the circle. The Lady Hawks’ ace has pitched every frame throughout the postseason and tallied a 2.33 ERA, 81 strikeouts, 43 hits and 28 walks allowed through 58 combined innings during the playoffs.
Berrett also sports a 32-4 overall record in the circle and a .442 batting average during a standout senior season.
Iowa Park Lady Hawks (32-6-1) will battle the Grandview Lady Zebras (35-3-1) in the Class 3A Division I UIL Softball State Championship game at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, at the University of Texas’ Red and Charline McCombs Field in Austin.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: What to Know: Iowa Park’s road to 3ADI UIL Softball State Championship
Reporting by Andrew McCulloch, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
