The BSM softball team was defeated 2-1 in both games during their third round of sections in class 6AAA on Tuesday, May 27 against Hopkins and Richfield.
By this point in sections, BSM was playing in a double elimination round, where they had to lose both games before they were eliminated. The first game was against Hopkins, a first seed team, whereas BSM was a third seed team. “We were nervous going into the game, because we knew they were going to be our biggest competition and our most difficult team to play this season,” said senior Elle Zeman.
The Hopkins pitcher is known to be very good, which is the main reason why BSM struggled in the game; they couldn’t get any hits off their pitcher. The score was 2-0 during most of the game. “We hit well all season, but we picked the wrong game to have an off day,” said head coach Adrian Wagner.
Zeman had the first hit of the game, hitting a double, but it didn’t affect the score. In the last inning of the game BSM was down 2-0 and senior Brittany Stewart hit a single, followed by senior Larissa Clark who bunted, getting players on first and second base. Next, seniors Emma Shields-Nordness and Marie Renckens both bunted and got out, but brought Stewart home.
The team quickly shook off their defeat and prepared for an immeadiate follow-up game against Richfield in order to stay in the section tournament. The team was ready and pumped themselves up as much as they could going into the second game. “After we lost the first game we couldn’t lose again. It was our team goal all season to make it to state, so that kept us motivated going into the second game,” said Zeman.
Overall the second game was played much better than the first, but “after an unfortunate error and a couple bad calls by the umpire, we trailed 2-0 again, and just couldn’t come back,” said Zeman.
The Red Knights managed to stay strong, as senior Britt Stewart pitched very well, but in the end the team fell short with another 2-1 loss, ending their 2008 season. “We came close in both games. We didn’t quit,” said assistant coach Dan Bowler.
Although eight seniors ended their softball careers at BSM, they were able to leave having a record of 75-27 over the past four years.
