Blossoms move on to Section softball tournament

Published 9:40 pm Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Things didn’t go exactly as planned, but the Blooming Prairie softball team is headed back to the Section 1A tournament for the fourth straight year after taking second place in the Subsection 1A West Division Tournament at Todd Park Wednesday.

The Awesome Blossoms (18-5 overall) lost the subsection title game to Waterville/Elysian/Morristown 6-1, but rebounded to beat No. 7 seeded Kenyon/Wanamingo 8-3.

“(The first game) definitely wasn’t our best game,” said BP shortstop Resha Koster, who was six-for-seven on the day. “I thought we were mentally ready, but we just came out and we weren’t pumped up. There was no spunk to us. We were fired up for the second one and we weren’t gonna lose two games in one day.”

Email newsletter signup

The top-seeded Blossoms surged to an early 4-0 lead against K/W (7-16 overall) as Katelin Strand hit a bloop single to right field to score one in the first and Tricia DeBoer knocked in a run with a single up the middle in the second. Another two runs scored on the play, when DeBoer’s single rolled past K/W’s center fielder.

DeBoer, a freshman, went three-for-three with two runs against the Knights after going 0-for-3 against the Bucs (16-7 overall).

“(Going 0-for-3) motivated me to do better in the second game,” DeBoer said. “It was hard to come out after a loss, but we got into it.”

After K/W crept to within 5-3 going into the sixth, the Blossoms stepped up as Erica Manske and Jordan Noble each reached on infield singles to start the inning and DeBoer drew a walk. After BP scored on a wild pitch, Koster knocked in a run with a single to make it 8-3.

Manske, who put in 14 innings Wednesday, did a solid job on the mound against K/W as she forced the Knights to leave five runners in scoring position by getting out of jams. She had 10 strikeouts in the win.

“She did a nice job, but she was tired. We don’t like to make her throw that many innings,” BP head coach Alison Mach said. “She’s always been able to get herself out of jams.”

The loss against W/E/M couldn’t have started much worse for BP as the first three Bucs runners reached base and the Blossoms fell behind 2-0 in the first.

“That two run first inning really hurt us a lot. We came out nervous and that cost us and it kind of snowballed on us,” Mach said.

In the fourth and fifth innings, BP had runners thrown out at home plate on close plays.

“It was a long day fighting against the wind and we didn’t have the energy we normally have,” Mach said.

BP will now look to the Section Tournament, where they will play an opponent to be determined Saturday at 10 a.m. in Todd Park.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

WEM 2 0 0 0 1 0 3 6 7 3

BP 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 6 3

BP pitching: Erica Manske (L), 7 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 6 R, 5 ER, 7 K

BP hitting: Tricia DeBoer, 0-for-3; Anna Peterson, 0-for-3; Resha Koster, 3-for-3, R, 2 SB; Katelin Strand, 0-for-2; Tayla Jones, 1-for-3; Mag Fogarty, 0-for-2; Hunter Henderson, 2-for-3; Erica Manske, 0-for-2; Jordan Noble, 0-for-3, SB; Janelle Morem, 3 SBs

WEM pitching: Brittany Fritz (W), 6 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 8 R, 7 ER, 4 K

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

KW 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 3 6 2

BP 1 3 0 0 1 3 X 8 10 2

BP pitching: Manske (W), 7 IP, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 R, 2 ER, 10 K, HBP

BP hitting: DeBoer, 3-for-3, RBI, 2 R, SB; Anna Peterson, 0-for-3; Koster, 3-for-4, double, RBI, R; Katelin Strand, 1-for-3, RBI; Jones, 0-for-4; Fogarty, 1-for-1, 2 BBs; Hunter Henderson, 0-for-3, BB; Manske, 1-for-2; Noble, 2-for-3, 2 R, SB; Morem, 2 R; Sam Johnson, R

KW pitching: Siri Sviggum (L), 6 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 8 R, 7 ER, 4 K

KW hitting: Nicole Lubahn, 4-for-4