The Becker girls softball team won two games this week and advanced to the MSHSL State Tournament in Mankato starting Thursday.

 

Becker will play Winona at 1 p.m. at Caswell Park in North Mankato. Win or lose, they will then play again Thursday at 5 p.m. with a chance to move on and play in the championship round Friday.

 

Becker traveled to Willmar Tuesday night where they faced the #1-seeded Rocori Spartans The winner would move on to the championship game Thursday and the loser heading to the loser's bracket and needing to win three in a row to go to state.

 

 For the first three innings of Tuesday’s matchup, the game flew by quickly with the only run being scored in the third inning by the Spartans.  

 

In the top of the fourth, Erika Schwartz knotted the game up with a solo home run to lead off the inning.  That was followed by two singles and a Rocori error that loaded the bases with two outs.  Sydney Lamott then roped a double to deep left center to score two runs.  Payton Williams followed  by reaching base on an error, which plated another run. Hailey Fitzpatrick singled to tally another run and make the score 5-1.  

 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Spartans added a run but the Bulldogs answered with three more runs the next inning to out them up 8-2.  

 

In the seventh, Becker sealed the deal by scoring four more insurance runs on four singles and two walks to win the game by 10.

 

Brianna Corey picked up the win on the mound, going all seven innings and allowing just two runs (one earned) on six hits.  Fitzpatrick was 4-for-5 at the plate and drove in three runs.  Alexa Hanowski was 3-for-5 with two RBIs.

 

The win moved the Bulldogs to Thursday’s section final  where they would have to win one of two games, if necessary.

 

Becker’s opponent was Dassel-Cokato, who knocked Rocori out of the tournament with a 3-0 win later that day.

 

After a scoreless top of the first, Williams put Becker on the board first with a solo home run on the second pitch she saw.

 

 The Chargers answered with a two-run home run to take the lead in the top of the second.

 

In the bottom of the third, Becker knotted things at two when Williams came into score on a Corrie Weise two-out single.  

 

However, the Chargers broke the tie with a run on three singles in the top of the fifth to eke out the win at 3-2.  

 

Corey took the loss, going all seven innings and allowing three runs on 11 hits.  She didn't walk a batter and struck out four.  

 

Corey, Weise, and Williams each had a hit in the game.

 

With the loss, that meant the Bulldogs would have to take on the Chargers again with the winner advancing to the state tournament.  

 

In game two, it was D-C that took the early lead with a solo home run in the top of the second inning.  

 

The bottom of the third started innocently enough for the Bulldogs, but became the turning point in the game.  With two outs and a runner on first, singles by Fitzpatrick and Erika Schwartz plated a run to tie the game.  Then, the Chargers committed three consecutive errors to allow Becker to score three more runs.  Corey then added to the damage with a two-run single and Kaylyn Wiehle singled to drive in another run. A fifth error by the Chargers allowed one more run to score to make it 7-1 in favor of the Bulldogs.  

 

A solo home run in the top of the fourth made the score 7-2, but Becker tried to crush DC’s comeback dreams with two more runs on an RBI double by Weise and an RBI single by Corey to push the lead to 9-2.  

 

The Chargers didn’t quit, adding an unearned run in the top of the sixth to make it 9-3. The Bulldogs responded with an unearned run of their own in the bottom of the inning to send it to the seventh with a score of 10-3.  

 

It got rather interesting and tense in the last inning, as the leadoff batter for DC walked and the Chargers followed with their third home run of the game to make it 10-5.  After Becker nailed down two outs to ease some tension, three straight Chargers singled and the sixth run was heading for home. But Becker’s Sydney Lamott made a great throw home on the last single and Alexa Hanowski applied the tag to end the game with a score of 10-5.

 

Corey went all seven innings again and picked up the win.  She also went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.  Wiehle also went 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

 

“I was so proud of how the girls competed on both Tuesday and Thursday,” said Head Coach Jason Baune.  “Dassel-Cokato really came out and did everything they could to deliver a knockout punch, but our girls kept fighting and supporting each other throughout the day.  Thursday certainly wasn't the best softball we've played, but it says a lot about the girls that they were able to keep fighting and earn their third straight state tournament berth.”