2023 brought unimaginable success to the Iowa Yellow Jackets, who won the nonselect Division II state baseball championship over the weekend.

“It was definitely unbelievable,” Iowa head coach Daniel Hennigan said. “In so many ways it was unexpected.

“A thousand people saying thousands of things when absolutely that was not the case. We didn’t think that. We kept plugging along. What an ending.”

It was the Yellow Jackets’ second state championship. The other was in 2007.

With three seniors, the Yellow Jackets won six of their first eight games, then hit a stretch in which they lost seven of eight games. But they got their confidence back when they opened District 3-3A with a 15-0 win over Jennings. Iowa went on to place second in a district that sent four teams to last weekend’s state tournament in Sulphur.

“We were still playing pretty well,” Hennigan said. “We

“We just were not quite making it happen. None of them were absolute dumpster fires. We are losing, but we didn’t become selfish, arrogant, or uncoachable despite not feeling the best about some things. We just needed a break.

“After we lost our seven games, we opened with Jennings. We made three exceptional plays on first and third defense, then we exploded offensively. Then we beat Kinder, South Beauregard and Westlake.”

The Yellow Jackets entered the playoffs as the No. 7 seed but made a perfect postseason run, sweeping No. 10 Grant and No. 2 North Vermilion in best-of-three series. Then they knocked out No. 6 North DeSoto 5-1 in the semifinals and shut out No. 8 Lakeshore 4-0 in the final.

“The stars aligned,” Hennigan said. “Them doing the right things over and over again.

“Grant is a solid team. We had an unbelievable day in the first game. From there it was just a matter of a bunch of hot hands. It is hard to stop nine hot hands.”

In the championship game, Cole Corbello hit a two-run single in the first inning, and Tyler Dartez, the game MVP, pitched a complete-game shutout, holding Lakeshore to three hits.

Dartez and Reed Dupre combined to pitch four complete games in the playoffs.

“Reed and Tyler are very similar in their approach and Cole is a flamethrower,” Hennigan said. “They did a great job. Everything we needed them to do they did a great job and more.”

Defensive plays also played a major role in the Yellow Jackets’ hoisting the state championship trophy on Saturday.

“It was unbelievable,” Hennigan said. “I think defense helped us set the tempo.

“In that first inning, you have Reggie Ball dive and make a play, and Landon Langley dives and makes a play. Cole slides against the fence to make a play. He has a cannon and throws the guy out at the plate. Then the late double play. I can’t say it deflated Lakeshore, but it made our players feel more bulletproof.”