BEA downs WEM 5-4 in eight innings
Girls come up short in doubleheader against the Pipestone Arrows
It took an extra inning and increased the drama, but the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers were victorious over the visiting Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Buccaneers by a 5-4 score in a softball game played at the 14th Street Diamonds in Blue Earth on Monday, May 6.
BEA had a 4-2 lead heading into the top of the seventh inning, but a two-run rally by WEM tied the game at 4-4. When the Maroon and Gold failed to score in the bottom of the seventh inning, the game went into extra innings. BEA held WEM scoreless in the top of the eighth inning and then wasted no time in scoring a run to win the game in the bottom of the inning.
BEA needed just two batters to produce the winning run. Taylor Klabunde led off the inning with a single and scored the winning run on a triple by Ashlyn Klinkner.
BEA scored one run in the first inning and maintained a 1-0 lead until the top of the fourth frame when WEM scored once to tie the game at 1-1.
BEA regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when they added another run to go on top 2-1.
WEM tied the game again in the top half of the sixth inning to knot the game at two runs apiece. However, BEA pushed two runs across the plate in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-2 lead only to watch WEM tie the game again in the top of the seventh inning.
BEA outhit WEM by a 13-9 margin. Klabunde and Klinkner each had three hits while Kyla Roiger, Claire Sullivan and Olivia Dutton each had two hits. Kylee Eckmann finished with one hit.
In addition to Klinkner’s triple, BEA also had three other extra-base hits, which were doubles by Klabunde, Roiger and Sullivan.
Sullivan drove in two runs. Klabunde, Klinkner and Roiger each drove in one run.
Eckmann went the distance on the mound to pick up the victory. In eight innings of work, she gave up nine hits, four runs (two earned), walked four batters and struck out 12.
With the win, BEA improves their record to five wins and eight losses. BEA’s game at Medford, which was to have been played on Tuesday, May 7, was canceled due to wet field conditions on Medford’s softball diamond.
Pipestone 9, BEA 8
The perennial softball powerhouse Pipestone Arrows came to Blue Earth on Friday, May 3 to take on the Buccaneers in a doubleheader.
Although the Arrows outhit the Bucs by a 15-8 margin in the first game, BEA kept the game close, but their bid to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning came up one run short and Pipestone won the first game of the twin bill by a score of 9-8.
The Arrows jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning but the Bucs answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Kylee Eckmann reached first base on a walk and advanced to third base on Olivia Dutton’s hard single to right field. Dutton stole second before a single by Reagan Machacek brought home Eckmann and allowed Dutton to reach third base. Machacek was thrown out attempting to steal second base but Dutton scooted home on the throw to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Arrows.
The visitors increased their lead to 4-2 with one run in the top of the second inning.
With one out in the bottom of the third inning Eckmann was walked for the second time in the game. Dutton hit a ground out to the second baseman for the second out of the inning with Eckmann checking in at second base on the play.
A double by Taylor Klabunde to center field brought home Eckmann with BEA’s third run of the contest.
With Machacek at the plate, Klabunde stole third base and then scored on a single by Machacek to left field, which tied the score at 4-4.
Pipestone scored twice in the top of the fifth to go on top 6-4. However, BEA countered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to knot the game at 6-6.
Eckmann led off the fifth inning for the Bucs with a single before Dutton was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second base.
Steals by Eckmann and Dutton put both runners in scoring position. A ground out by Klabunde plated Eckmann with the Bucs’ fifth run of the game and advanced Dutton to third base.
A ground out by Machacek drove in Dutton to tie the game at 6-6.
The Arrows went back on top 7-6 in the sixth inning and scored two more times in the top of the seventh inning to take a 9-6 lead heading into BEA’s last at-bat in the bottom of the seventh inning.
A lead-off single by Erika Gaydon and a double by Eckmann put runners on second and third with nobody out. A ground out by Dutton drove home Gaydon and advanced Eckmann to third base. Klabunde’s ground out brought home Eckmann with BEA’s eighth run of the game but the Maroon and Gold’s rally stalled and the Arrows escaped with the 9-8 victory.
Machacek led the Bucs with three hits and three runs batted in. Eckmann was 2-for-2 at the plate and scored four runs. Klabunde had a double and drove in three runs.
Eckmann went all the way on the mound, giving up nine earned runs while walking three batters and striking out two.
Pipestone 13, BEA 3
The second game of the doubleheader did not go well for BEA. Pipestone was the home team on the scoreboard and had an 8-1 lead through three complete innings.
The Bucs pushed two runs across the plate in the top of the fourth inning to cut the Arrows’ lead to 8-3, but Pipestone scored four times in the bottom of the fourth to take a 12-3 lead. They added a single run in the bottom of the sixth to go up by 10 runs and end the game because of the 10-run rule.
Olivia Dutton took the loss after pitching four innings. Kylee Eckmann closed out the game on the mound for the Bucs.
BEA had seven hits during the game with Reagen Machacek and Kyla Roiger getting two hits each.