BEA’s Erika Gaydon makes contact during the Bucs’ 8-3 victory over the St. James Saints on May 14.

The Blue Earth Area softball team fell behind to the St. James Saints 1-0 after two complete innings on May 14 before rallying to score two runs in the bottom of the third inning and adding six more runs in the bottom of the fourth to go up 8-1.

The Saints put up two more runs in the top of the sixth inning but the Bucs held on for an 8-3 victory at the 14th Street Diamonds in Blue Earth.

BEA scored their two runs in the bottom of the third inning when Reagan Machacek hit a two-run home run over the right field fence to drive in Kylee Eckmann who had reached base with a single.

The bottom of the fourth inning is when the Bucs did their major damage by scoring six runs.

Ashlyn Klinkner and Claire Sullivan started off the inning by hitting back-to-back doubles resulting in Klinkner scoring BEA’s third run of the game.

A walk to Kyla Roiger put runners at first and second base. Both runners came home on a double by Berkley Hagedorn.

Next, Erika Gaydon laid down a perfect bunt for a single with Hagedorn advancing to third base on the play.

With Eckmann at the plate, Gaydon stole second base to give the Bucs two runners in scoring position. Eckmann made the most of the situation by stroking a single to left field which brought home Hagedorn and Gaydon with two more runs and put BEA on top 7-1.

Eckmann advanced to third base on two infield ground outs and then scored on a single by Taylor Klabunde to make the score 8-1 in favor of the Maroon and Gold.

Eckmann had three hits in four at-bats and drove in two runs. Klinkner, Hagedorn and Sullivan each had a double and Machacek had a home run. BEA finished the game with 11 total hits.

Olivia Dutton went the distance on the mound to pick up the win. She was charged with three runs (two earned) on nine hits. She walked two batters and struck out four.

BEA’s overall record for the season stands at six wins and 11 losses.

JWP 3, BEA 1

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers and the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Bulldogs had battled to a 1-1 tie through four innings when the two teams met in Janesville on Saturday, May 11.

The Bulldogs broke the tie with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and went on to defeat the Bucs 3-1.

Kylee Eckmann hurled all six innings for the Bucs and gave up only four hits. She was charged with three earned runs while walking two batters and striking out seven.

BEA could only muster three hits on offense with Eckmann, Taylor Klabunde and Destinee Griffey each getting one hit.

The Bucs scored their only run of the game in the top of the third inning. Griffey singled and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. She scored on a single by Eckmann to left field.

Luverne 17, BEA 2

The host Luverne Cardinals scored 12 runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back on their way to a 17-2 victory over Blue Earth Area in the first game of a softball doubleheader played on Thursday, May 9.

The Bucs managed to get five hits in the four-inning game with Kylee Eckmann getting two of them and Reagan Machacek, Berkley Hagedorn and Sara Wirth each getting one.

Machacek drove in both runs in the third inning with a single to right field after Wirth and Eckmann had both reached base with singles.

Olivia Dutton took the loss for the Bucs.

Luverne 17, BEA 2

The second game of the doubleheader ended with the same result as the opening contest.

Luverne, which was the visiting team on the scoreboard for the closing game, scored three times in the top of the first inning, added three more runs in the top of the second inning before erupting for eight runs in the top half of the third inning to build a 14-0 lead.

The Bucs scored one run in the bottom of the third inning to break up Luverne’s shutout.

After the Cardinals pushed three more runs across the plate in the top of the fourth inning to increase their lead to 17-1, BEA’s Reagan Machacek belted a homer over the center field fence in the bottom of the fourth to make the final score 17-2 in another four-inning game.

Eckmann pitched all four innings for BEA and took the loss. The Bucs committed five errors during the game.

Machacek’s home run was one of her two hits in the game. Claire Sullivan and Erika Gaydon each had a double and Berkley Hagedorn had a single to account for BEA’s five hits.