Vikings bounce back to knock off Blossoms and advance to Section 1A softball tourney
Published 10:44 pm Friday, May 23, 2014
Hayfield’s Rachel Masching scores against Randolph in the Subsection 1A tournament Friday night at Todd Park. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Just two days after they saw the Awesome Blossoms rally past them on their home field, the Vikings turned the tables with an 11-1 win to end Blooming Prairie’s season in a Section 1A West second place game in Todd Park Friday.
Blooming Prairie’s Megan O’Connor reaches to tag Kenyon-Wanamingo’s Makayla Sokoloski in the their game of the Subsection 1A tournament Friday at Todd Park. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The win puts the Vikings in the Section 1A tournament, where they will play Chatfield (15-7 overall) in Todd Park Tuesday at 5 p.m.
The biggest difference for the Vikings (17-4 overall) on Friday was the play of pitcher Alyssa Monahan. The senior hurler allowed just two hits and three walks in Friday’s win after she walked nine in an 8-5 loss to BP Wednesday. Hayfield also had to beat Randolph 13-6 to get to the game with BP and Monahan pitched a total of 13 innings on the day with just five walks.
“Wednesday was really tough but I just had to forget about it, I worked hard in practice and I got my confidence back,” Monahan said. “My team helped me with that and if I have a good defense behind me, it makes it so much easier.”
The Vikings had just five hits against BP (10-10 overall), but they made them count. Bhrett Zahnle singled in two runs to make it 3-0 in the first and Jessie Foster doubled in two runs in the second inning to make it a 5-0 lead for Hayfield.
Hayfield pitcher Alyssa Monahan pitching in the third inning against Randolph in the Subsection 1A tournament Friday night at Todd Park. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
“We just knew we had to come out and play hard and hit the ball,” said Foster.
The Vikings had their season end in a loss to BP last year and they were glad that it didn’t happen again. Hayfield senior Dani Wagner drew three walks and scored three runs in Friday’s win.
“It’s great to have the roles reversed this year,” Wagner said. “We really wanted to beat… them and we finally did it. It was good to be fired up after coming from behind in the first game and we had momentum.”
The loss ends a run of four straight trips to the Class A state tournament for BP. The Blossoms won a state title last season and they took second in state the year before that, but this was a different team that was relying on a few new players who were learning new roles and a freshman pitcher in Elly Strunk.
BP started Friday by losing 5-1 to Kenyon-Wanamingo in the Section 1A West title game and the Blossoms had just five hits in 13 innings of softball.
“It wasn’t our day. We didn’t play that well against Kenyon and it just kind strung out from there,” BP head coach Ali Mach said. “That’s going to happen with a young team and there’s some inexperience there. It’s kind of how our season’s been, up and down.”
While BP’s run of four straight state tournaments has come to an end, Mach said her squad will be ready to bounce back and be competitive again next season.
Blooming Prairie second baseman Delaney Nelson throws to first for the out in the sixth inning against Kenyon-Wanamingo in the Subsection 1A tournament Friday at Todd Park. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
“[Going to state four years in a row] is a lot of weight to carry,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of very successful years and that’s something not many teams around here have been able to do. This is just a little bump for us. We knew coming in we were going to have some changes and we were competitive.”
BP 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 1 2 3
Hayfield 3 2 1 1 0 4 — 11 5 1
Hayfield pitching: Alyssa Monahan (W) 6 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 1 ER, 1 K
Hayfield hitting: Dani Wagner, 0-for-1, 3 BBs, 3 R, SB; Jessie Foster, 2-for-3, double, 2 RBIs, 2 R; Grace Mindrup, 0-for-4, 2 RBIs; Grace Walker, 0-for-2, 2 R, 2 BBs; Rachel Masching, 1-for-2, RBI, 2 R, SB, 2 BBs; Bhrett Zahnle, 2-for-4, 3 RBIs; Kyal Heydt, 0-for-3; Lezlie Sorensen, 0-for-3; Carrie Rutledge, 0-for-1, R, BB
BP pitching: Elly Strunk (L) 6 IP, 5 H, 7 BB, 11 R, 3 K
BP hitting: Tessa Ivers, 0-for-2, R, BB; Lizz Willert, 1-for-3; Sydney Heiber, 2-for-3; Bria Baldwin, 0-for-3; Megan O’Connor, 0-for-2; Strunk, 0-for-2; Delaney Nelson, 0-for-1, BB; Madison Worke, 0-for-1, BB; Mariah Holland, 0-for-2
Hayfield 13, Randoph 6
Hayfield pitching: Monahan (W) 7 IP, 9 H, 2 BB, 6 R, 3 K, 1 HBP
Blooming Prairie’s Bria Baldwin connects in the sixth inning against Kenyon-Wanamingo in the Subsection 1A tournament Friday at Todd Park. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Hayfield hitting: Wagner, 4-for-5, double, RBI; Foster, 1-for-5, R; Mindrup, 3-for-4, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs; Walker, 3-for-4, double, 2 RBIs; Masching, 2-for-4; Zahnle, 1-for-4, 2 R; Heydt, 2-for-3, BB; Sorensen, 1-for-2, BB
KW 5, BP 1
BP pitching: Strunk (L) 7 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 5 ER, 7 K, 1 HBP
BP hitting: Ivers, 1-for-2, SB, BB; Willert, 0-for-3; Heiber, 0-for-3; Baldwin, 2-for-3, triple, RBI; O’Connor, 0-for-3; Strunk, 0-for-3; Nelson, 0-for-3; Worke, 0-for-2, BB; Holland, 0-for-2
