What a time for a winning streak!
The Becker Bulldog girls softball team strung together three impressive wins in the past week and the result is a berth in the State Class AAA Championship game played Wednesday in Mankato (see related story).
Spartans
The first order of business for the team was a section championship, which they earned last Thursday with a 5-2 win over the Rocori Spartans.
The Spartans grabbed an early 1-0 in the top of the first inning via a Bulldog error, but Becker answered quickly in the bottom of the inning when Kurstyn Patnode hit a solo home run to knot the score at one. In the bottom of the third, Becker opened the game up with three runs. Maddie Sherman led off with a single and the Spartans misplayed a bunt by Ellie Gallus, putting runners on the corners. Sherman would come in to score on a Krista Paulson bunt single. A Patnode double would score Gallus and Paulson would later score on a wild pitch to make the score 4-1.
Rocori answered quickly when Bree Griffin hit a solo home run to lead off the fourth to make it 4-2, but Makenna Zerwas got that run back with a solo home run of her own in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 5-2. Each team threatened in the final three innings, but both pitchers were able to get themselves out of the threats unscathed and 5-2 was the final score.
Emma Eickhoff picked up the win, going all seven innings and allowing two runs, one earned, on nine hits. She didn’t walk a batter and struck out 10.
Patnode had two hits and two RBI at the plate, while Zerwas had the solo home run and set the tone defensively by throwing out runners attempting to steal in both the second and third innings.
As section champs, Becker placed four players on the All-Section team, including Eickhoff, who was 4-0 in the circle with a 1.75 ERA. She struck out 45 batters in the four games. Patnode was also named to the all section team by going 9-for-17 with a home run and nine RBI’s in the four games. Other honorees were Zerwas (8-for-12 with three home runs and eight RBI’s) and Sherman (7-for-12 with four runs scored).
State Quarterfinals
In the opening round of the state tournament on Tuesday, Becker took on the Raiders from Cretin-Derham Hall, who came in with a record of 11-12 against all Class AAAA opponents. However, the Bulldogs didn’t skip a beat against the private school competition and came away with a 2-0 win.
The game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the third as Emma Eickhoff retired nine straight batters, including six strikeouts. With one out in the bottom of the third, Paulson drilled a 2-1 pitch to the gap in left center for a double. Patnode followed with a line drive over the fence in center field to give Becker a 2-0 lead.
The Raiders would put two runners on base in the top of the fourth, but Eickhoff would slam the door with her eighth strikeout of the game.
Becker threatened again in the fifth when Paulson drew a walk and Eickhoff singled, but the Raiders would escape and keep the score 2-0. Eickhoff allowed a single in the sixth, but that would be the last baserunner the Raiders would get.
Eickhoff got the win going all seven innings and allowing three hits, as she didn’t walk a batter and struck out nine. She was also 2-for-3 at the plate. Patnode was 1-3 with the home run, while Paulson had Becker’s only other hit.
State Semifinals
Tuesday afternoon, the Bulldogs punched their ticket to the state championship game with a 5-1 win over the 18-6 Benilde-St. Margaret Red Knights.
As she has done so often this season, Eickhoff put down the opponent 1-2-3 in the top of the first, but this time Becker would put up a crooked number in the bottom of the inning. Paulson led off with a single and advanced to 2B on a passed ball before going to third on a groundout. She scored when the B-SM third baseman made an errant throw on a play that also that allowed Emma Eickoff to advance to 2B. Cadence Koste would follow with a single that scored pinch runner Kennedy Drehmel.
After another out was recorded, Sherman drilled a triple over the head of the right fielder that would score pinch runner Jenna Kringler to make the score 3-0. Brooke Hendrickson would follow with a single to plate Sherman that gave the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead after one inning of play.
Becker would add to their lead in the bottom of the second when Gallus led off with a walk and later scored on an Eickhoff single to make it 5-0.
Both pitchers found their groove through the middle innings and the game remained 5-0 until the top of the sixth when two singles and a couple of fielding mistakes would give the Knights their first run. However, Zewas put an end to the threat by throwing out a runner trying to steal second base and Becker headed to the seventh with a 5-1 lead. The Red Knights would threaten by drawing two walks and putting runners on first and second, but a sharp ground ball to third turned into a double play when Cadence Koste stepped on third and threw to Ashlyn Croal at first to secure the win.
Eickhoff again went all seven innings and allowed a single run on three hits. She walked two and struck out seven.
Koste was 2-2 with an RBI to lead the offense.
“I thought we did a lot of things really well throughout the day,” Head Coach Jason Baune said, “Makenna Zerwas did a great job of calling pitches behind the plate and Emma Eickhoff was able to dominate by hitting spots and mixing speeds. Our defense was generally very good. Today wasn’t our best day at the plate, but we were able to come up with some clutch base hits when we needed them.”
With the win, Becker faced Winona in the State Championship game Wednesday at noon. The Winhawks advanced to the title game with a pair of close wins, beating Sartell 6-5 in the quarterfinals and then taking down the #1 seed Mankato West 7-6 in eight innings in the semifinal.
Check out the front page of this week’s Patriot for results from the title game.
