Blossom bats struggle against USC ace
Published 7:09 pm Thursday, May 1, 2025
Blooming Prairie shortstop Catelyn Bartlett hauls in a pop fly. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Gracelyn Anderson takes a swing for BP on Thursday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie’s Mia Johnson hurls a pitch against USC Thursday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie’s Ella Smith tracks down a fly ball in center field. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie’s Madelyn Harvey winds up a throw from left field Thursday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
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BLOOMING PRAIRIE – The Blooming Prairie softball team couldn’t keep up against a tough pitcher and a tough team as it lost to United South Central 7-0 in BP Thursday.
Pitcher Mariah Anderson struck out 20 for USC (12-0 overall), while allowing just two hits and one walk. Anderson struck out the first 12 hitters she faced before BP’s Gracelyn Anderson singled to start the fifth.
BP head coach Cam Rutledge said that it’s tough to go against a pitcher like Anderson, especially with a young team.
“Thankfully we just saw the other great pitcher in the state in Randolph’s Carter Raymond last week,” Rutledge said. “Coming into this game we kind of knew what we were going to get. Those two are very similar. They’re both phenomenal pitchers. It is hard to prepare for that, you’ve just got to crank the pitching machine up a little faster, tell the girls to go up there fearlessly.”
The Awesome Blossoms (1-10 overall) trailed just 4-0 going into the seventh inning, where USC put the game away. BP did have runners on second and third in the sixth and it put a runner on third in the fifth.
With most of last year’s state qualifying team gone to graduation, this has been a growing year for the Blossoms.
“We have such a young team and so many girls playing their first varsity innings. We are getting better and we’re starting to see that in the scores now,” Rutledge said. “The game is starting to slow down for them and they are making adjustments.”
USC 0 0 0 2 2 0 3 – 7 12 1
BP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 2 4
BP pitching: Mia Johnson (L) 7 IP, 12 H, 2 BB, 7 R, 4 ER 3 K
BP hitting: Madelyn Harvey, 0-for-2, HBP; Neila Nelson, 0-for-2, BB; Ella Smith, 0-for-3; Gracelyn Anderson, 1-for-3; Isabella Schiller, 0-for-2; Addison Mongeau, 1-for-3; Catelyn Bartlett, 0-for-3; Johnson, 0-for-2; E. Stoen, 0-for-2
