Saturday, December 21st, 2024 Church Directory
SENIOR HALEY HARMON pitched a gem Wednesday afternoon as she and the Bulldogs took down St. Cloud Apollo in the quarterfinals of the Section 8AAA playoffs. Harmon finished with six strikeouts while giving up just two hits and one walk.

Lady Bulldogs Advance To Semifinals With 4 0 Win

Wednesday, the Becker Bulldog girls softball team hosted the first two rounds of the Section 8AAA playoffs.  As the #1 seed, Becker received a first round bye. In the prelim game, #9 seed St. Cloud Apollo took down #8 seed Sartell, 8-0 and advanced to challenge the Bulldogs in the second game.
 
Becker 4, Apollo 0
 
Becker got on the board in the bottom of the first when Payton Williams led off with a single. Some aggressive base running allowed her to move to third base on a Hailey Fitzpatrick bunt.  Sam Lorette proceeded to ground out to shortstop, allowing Williams to score.  
 
In a great pitcher’s duel, the score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the fifth when Ellie Schwartz, Sydney Lamott and Williams hit consecutive one-out singles to score one run.  Fitzpatrick followed with a sacrifice fly to bring in another run making it 3-0.  
 
Erika Schwartz was hit by a pitch to lead off the sixth and pinch runner Payton Bernstrom ended up scoring on a base hit by Ellie Schwartz to make the score 4-0.  That would be the final as the Eagles never mounted much of a threat against Haley Harmon.
 
Leading hitters for Becker were Williams who went 2-for-3 with an RBI, Harmon, who was 2-for-3 and Schwartz, who was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a stolen base.
 
Harmon got the win, going all seven innings, allowing just two hits and a walk.  She struck out six.
 
“While we had some struggles at the plate, I was very impressed with our ability to lay down bunts and move runners around,” said Head Coach Jason Baune.  “Our aggressiveness on the bases also helped us score a couple runs.  The defense was once again solid behind Harmon and Sam Lorette did a great job of calling the game from behind the plate.”
 
With the win, Becker advances to the semifinals where they will take on Monticello at home Monday at 3 p.m.  Win or lose, the Bulldogs will be home again Wednesday afternoon.
 
The section championship game will be Thursday afternoon and — if necessary — a second game will be played Friday.