WATERLOO - Waterloo West sophomore Jadyn Spencer realized her team was starting to turn the corner last season. When the Wahawks finished one game shy of a state tournament berth, it served as motivation.

Month-by-month, Spencer and her teammates dedicated themselves to the art of hitting. As a result, the Wahawks' lineup has packed quite a punch in 2009.

The power was on full display Monday night during an 8-4 Class 4A regional semifinal win over metro rival Cedar Falls. West pummelled three doubles off its home-field fence and sent nine batters to the plate in the third inning of a game-changing, five-run outburst.

The offensive fireworks are nothing new for a West team that entered the postseason with 74 doubles and 23 home runs.

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for starting in October," said Spencer, who triggered West's third-inning rally by lacing an opposite-field double off the right field fence. "The girls have put in a lot of work - all of us have. We've really stepped up the dedication to our sport, and I think that's really helped. We can hit up and down the lineup."

A regional final win at 7 p.m. Wednesday at No. 15-rated Fort Dodge would make West the first metro-area school to reach the state softball tournament.

"It's been an outstanding year for us - our best hitting team that we've had in the eight years that I've been here," West coach Kelly Nelson said. "It's just contagious. A girl will get us started and the next thing you know it's hit, hit, hit, and it's great to see."

Such was the case in the bottom of the third inning Monday night. On the pitch following Spencer's double, clean-up hitter Tarrin Ott added an RBI double of her own. Cassie Knutson chipped in a run-scoring single and Lindsey Hansen recorded the team's third RBI double of the inning.

"It's a lot easier when someone gets it started," said Ott - one of five Wahawks with at least one home run and 10 doubles this season. "Your adrenaline is up and it's just a lot of fun."

Following the big inning, Cedar Falls responded quickly. The Tigers took advantage of back-to-back Wahawk errors and answered with three unearned runs in the top of a fourth inning highlighted by Cari Collins' two-RBI double.

Sloppy fielding plagued both teams in the late innings as they each finished with three errors. West scored two insurance runs when a ground ball trickled off the glove of a Cedar Falls infielder.

"Defensively, we didn't play tight enough and that was pretty much the whole year," Cedar Falls coach Tammy Utley said. "It wasn't just tonight. We needed to play almost flawless against a good West team to be able to come out ahead."

Tiger senior Jillian Zaputil didn't let West get comfortable with its lead. She drilled a sixth-inning solo home run beyond West's center field fence. But the Tigers gave that run back in the bottom of the frame when a throw from Tracy Shirey's bunt went to an unattended first base, scoring MacKenzie VanDenBerg.

Cedar Falls rallied again in the top of the seventh inning. But, with the bases loaded, the tying run up and Zaputil on deck, Spencer induced a groundout to second base to retire the side.

With a second shot at state looming, West hopes to cash in one more time on its offseason work.

"We're one game away," Spencer smiled. "All I can say is, 'Let's not get this close again and not go.'"

Former Wahawk honored

Following West's playoff victory, 1985 graduate Shelly (Brown) Kelling became the program's first athlete to have her jersey number retired. Wearing No. 25, Brown's career was highlighted by two no-hitters her senior season.

Brown taught 18 years in the Waterloo school system and played on several different national-qualifying slowpitch softball teams. Following a six-year battle with breast cancer, she passed away on February 19, 2008. That year, she became the first woman to be inducted into the Waterloo Softball Association Hall of Fame and this past spring she was inducted into the Optimist Baseball/Softball Hall of Fame.

Cedar Falls 000 301 0 - 4 5 3

West 005 021 x - 8 9 3

Shyann Beach and Cari Collins; Jadyn Spencer and Lindsey Hansen. WP - Spencer 10-6. LP - Beach 11-10.

2B - WW, Spencer, Tarrin Ott, Hansen; CF, Collins. HR - CF, Zaputil. Multiple hits - WW, Spencer 2, Kelli Joens 2. Multiple RBIs - WW, Spencer 2; CF, Collins 2.