Mad dash to sections

Published 2:57 pm Thursday, May 22, 2008

A missed sign boosted Blooming Prairie to the Section 1A softball Tournament as they beat Waterville/Elysian/Morristown 4-3 in the West Subsection 1A runner-up game Wednesday at Todd Park.

BP’s Megan DeBoer stretched a sixth-inning leadoff hit into a triple and she scored on a single by Katelin Strand to put BP up 4-3 for good.

DeBoer’s hit landed in right-center field, but her hustle put some pressure on the W/E/M defense as she slid into third just as the throw came in. BP head coach Alison Mach said it was DeBoer’s call to keep running at second.

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“That was all Megan,” Mach said. “She just took control. I didn’t make that call, but she took off and it worked for us.”

DeBoer, a senior, made her decision after glancing over her shoulder to see were the ball was.

“I looked over and saw where it was and I thought I could make it. It worked out for me, luckily,” she said.

After BP took the 4-3 lead, their pitcher Erica Manske forced three groundouts to get out of the seventh inning.

Things looked a lot worse for the freshman pitcher in the fifth inning, when W/E/M took a 3-2 lead off of BP throwing error and the Bucs loaded the bases with one out on a dropped pop fly by Manske.

But Manske caught a line-drive by W/E/M’s Stacy Reinke and struck out Cassie Masberg to end the inning.

“I don’t know how I dropped that ball,” Manske said. “But you just gotta find a way to get out of it and keep on playing. Stuff like that happens and you just got to let it go.”

The No. 2 seeded Awesome Blossoms (16-5 overall) tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when Resha Koster hit a two-out triple and scored on a passed ball. BP also scored on passed ball in the second inning when Strand scored after leading the inning off with a walk.

“We ran the bases pretty aggressively,” Mach said. “Both of those passed balls were short, but the girls got pretty good jumps.”

Strand’s run tied the game after the No. 7 seeded Bucs took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.

“If we don’t get those two runs were lagging in the end. Everybody just needed to step up,” DeBoer said.

W/E/M lost to Faribault B.A. in the subsection title game 7-5 before losing to BP.

BP will play in the Section 1A playoffs Saturday at Todd Park with the first game starting 10 a.m. and the second game starting at noon.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

WEM 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 7 1

BP 1 1 0 0 1 1 X 4 7 2

BP pitching: Erica Manske (W), 7 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 R, 2 ER, 3K

BP hitting: Tricia DeBoer, 1-of-3, SB; Anna Peterson, 0-of-2, SB; Resha Koster, 2-of-3, triple, SB; Kelly Peterson, 0-of-3, RBI; Megan DeBoer, 1-of-3, triple; Katelin Strand, 2-of-2, double, 1 RBIs, BB; Mag Fogarty, 1-of-2; Ashely Campbell, 0-of-3; Jordan Noble, 0-of-3

WEM pitching: Brittney Fritz, 6 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 4 ER, 1 K

WEM hitting: Danielle Mathias, 1-of-4; Michelle Lee, 1-of-3, BB; Alicia Reinke, 1-of-3; Stacy Gustafson, 1-of-3; Stacy Reinke, 1-of-4, RBI; Cassie Masberg, 0-of-3; Jes Rients, 2-of-3, double; Kayla Holling, 0-of-2; Kayla Mediger, 0-of-2; Cassie Masberg, 0-of-2