SECTION 3AA SOFTBALL: Arrows aimed for perfection

PIPESTONE — The Pipestone Arrows excercised their speed and big bats Tuesday night on the way to advancement in Section 3AA softball playoffs.

“Bunts are something that we work on,” head coach Troy Bouman said. “We have great speed, and when we can take those extra bases, that is huge for us.”

The game started out slow for both teams but picked up towards the middle innings.

Pipestone Area’s big inning came in the bottom of the third. The pitcher, Tasia Woelber, popped up a hit and ended up with a single off of a drop from the catcher. Tasia Woelber came back to the bench as Emily Mabon came in to pinch run.

Then Brittany Evans came up to the plate, and she proceeded to hit a bunt and get a double while Mabon stole third base. Next up was Amanda Haupert who hit a sacrifice fly to send in Mabon for a score. Cassie Evans then came up to the plate and bunted for another double while Brittany Evans came around to score. Cassie Evans then ran to third and ended up staying there after an interference call. And this was only the beginning for the Arrows.

Kelly Nettik came up to the plate and ripped a double into left field which allowed Cassie Evans to round the bags and score. Paige Petersen then stepped up to the plate and hit a single in the gap between third and short. Rebecca Griebel then came in to pinch run and ended up stealing second.

Tiffany Woelber hit a line-drive double to center field and ended up bringing in Nettik. The only hiccup that PA had in this inning was when Mikayla Enger stepped up to the plate. The hit ended up being a fielder’s choice down the third base line, and then Griebel had a pickle between home and third. She eventually ran off of the foul line and was called out. Finally, Libby Schneider came up to the plate and ended up grounding out to second to end the inning.

The Arrows had put together a great inning filled with fast running and important hits that left the score 4-0.

Meanwhile on the defensive side of the ball, the Arrows had a great performance from Tasia Woelber, who had 14 strikeouts, three earned runs and seven walks in seven nnings pitched.

“She didn’t throw as well as she normally does,” Bouman said. “The wind may have had something to do with that, but I thought she battled and did a nice job for us today.”

The next big inning for the Arrows was in the fourth.

Brittany Evans hit a single to the gap between first and second, and when the pitcher wasn’t paying attention, she stole second. Haupert was back at the plate and she hit a single to left field and scored Brittany Evans. Cassie Evans came back to the plate and walked to first. Nettik returned to the plate and hit a huge double that drove in Haupert and then Cassie Evans ended up stealing home to score two off of that single.

Then a major turning point happened that helped the morale of the Arrows go even higher.

Petersen (3-for-4) stepped up to the plate, poised to get a hit. She ended up crushing the ball deep to center field for the two-run home run.

“I think we did really well,” Petersen said. “We came out a little rocky, but we punched right through and got it done.”

The Arrows then proceeded to have two groundouts to end the inning now leading 10-0.

St. James would soon answer and make a run at bringing the deficit back to a reasonable one.

In the top of the fifth, the Saints made one last push, and one that did not go unnoticed.

Jacqui Oliver came up to the plate and was handed a walk. Darcie Bottem proceeded to give a sacrifice bunt to get Oliver to second. Samantha Hager came to the plate and also ended up walking to first.

Brett Henrich was up to bat and ended up striking out for the second out of the top of the inning. Then, with two runners on base, Megan Beckius came up and slammed the ball over the fence for the three-run home run and the team was feeling re-energized. Jackie Salazar made an appearance at the plate at the end of the inning and ended up getting struck out to stop the Arrows partial bleeding.

From there, the Arrows ended up getting three more runs in the last two innings, while the quick fielding work of Tasia Woelber’s teammates kept PA far enough away from the Saints for the 10-3 victory.

“I thought our girls did a great job of bunting and running the bases,” Bouman. “I thought our girls did a great job of playing with the conditions and doing things we asked them too.”

The Pipestone Area Arrows can be seen in action Saturday in Marshall.

R H E

PA 004 510 X — 9 5 2

SJ 000 030 0 — 3 2 1

SJ 2, WHS 1

PIPESTONE — The Worthington Trojans battled St. James in Section 3AA softball on Tuesday.

The ball game was very even looking at the pitchers, with WHS’s Angela Robinson against the Saint’s Darcie Bottem.

Robinson ended up striking out five batters, and Bottem struck out six. Both girls were doing a great job working in sync with their fielding team.

All of the action came in the third inning for both teams.

St. James came up to bat and Darcie Bottem hit a low ball that bounced toward the pitcher, and she ended up getting a single on a wildly thrown ball by the Trojans.

Later in the inning, Brett Henrich ended up getting walked to have two runners on base.

Jackie Salazar hit a single to the outfield that brought in Bottem and Henrich for the 2-0 lead.

“Worthington hit it hard against us the last time we played them,” SJ head coach Steve Chapin said. “That one inning was what we needed.”

Then the Trojans had their turn to counter back.

Paige Kinley came up to bat and hit a single down the third base line to get a run going for Worthington. Then Yadira Barragan hit a single right to second that got her on the bag but had Kinley getting out.

K.C. Riley had the big blast for the Trojans, hitting a double to the outfield and scoring Barragan from second to have the game come to 2-1. The Trojans ended the inning with a groundout and some confidence that they were still in the game.

The fourth, fifth and sixth innings were all about Robinson and Bottem setting up pitches for easy outs. Pop-ups, groundouts and strikeouts were to be had.

Then in the top of the seventh inning, the Saints threatened to score again.

Jacqui Oliver hit a single to center field and had a pinch runner come in. A sacrifice bunt by Bottem set up the pinch runner at second with another chance at adding a run for good measure.

The replacement for Kendahl Rogers ended up getting a walk, and the Saints threatened to score with two girls on base.

Robinson had solid pitches, and eventually Henrich grounded out to first to end the inning. Worthington still had a chance with only a half inning left.

The Trojans ended up grounding out to second for the first out, striking out and then grounding out again to end the game.

“It’s good for our kids,” Chapin said. “Being a lower seed and playing a team that beat us earlier this year to kind of get over those kinds of humps is a big big mark for our team, I am proud of them.”

R H E

WHS 001 000 0 — 1 6 1

SJ 000 030 0 — 2 4 0

PA 11, RRC/W-WG 1

PIPESTONE — Troy Bouman thought his team was a little nervous.

By the end, the head coach of Pipestone Area’s softball team could breathe pretty easy.

The Arrows opened up the Section 3AA softball tournament with an opening-round 11-1 victory against Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove Tuesday.

“I thought we were a little bit nervous being a little bit more pressure,” Bouman said. “I thought the girls played a little tight, but the game went on, they loosened up. They had their inning where they got it back to 2-1 and we came up and put up a crooked number. I thought we relaxed and started hitting the ball a little bit better. Still, we played the way we play and were very aggressive on the base paths and we bunted extremely well.”

PA’s Tasia Woelber was able to hold the RRC/W-WG offense down.

She allowed one unearned run on one hit while walking six and striking out 10 in six innings.

“We weren’t hitting the ball, that’s for sure,” Falcon head coach Derek Stevenson said. “That was my biggest fear coming in was trying to get a hit off of her and she’s a very good pitcher, a top of the line pitcher. She throws hard and you have to be quick and be ready to go. There were times when we weren’t.”

PA struck in the bottom of the first inning.

Amanda Haupert led off with a single and Cassie Evans drew a walk.

Haupert would later score on an error and Evans was plated on Paige Petersen’s sacrifice, giving the Arrows a 2-0 advantage.

The Falcons lone run came in the fourth inning.

After striking out eight times in the first three frames, the Falcons finally had some base runners.

Klarissa Larsen drew a one-out walk and went to second on Kali Davis’ single up the middle.

An error allowed Larsen to score, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

But then the Arrow offense came alive.

PA scored five runs in the fourth inning to take a commanding lead.

Tiffany Woelber led off with a single and Mikayla Enger reached on an error, which plated Woelber.

Libby Schneider reached on an error, which scored Enger.

Londyn Swenson (running for Schneider) scored on a wild pitch, giving PA a 5-1 advantage.

But the Arrows weren’t done yet.

Brittany Evans walked and scored on Haupert’s double, pushing the lead to 6-1.

Haupert, who was 3-for-4 with two runs in the game, scored on a wild pitch, giving the Arrows a six-run lead.

“We thought we hit the ball extremely well towards the end,” Bouman said. “As a coaching staff, we were more conservative with the wind the way it was. We probably bunted a lot more than we normally would. Right now, every run you get is really important, especially with the way the wind is blowing.”

PA scored four runs in the sixth to end the game early.

Cassie Evans walked to lead off the sixth and scored on Kelly Nettik’s double.

Megan Remund (running for Nettik) and Tiffany Woelber (who reached on an error) were plated on Swenson’s double. Swenson later scored the game-ending run on Tasia Woelber’s single, advancing PA with an 11-1 victory.

“I can’t say it was expected, but we knew they were a good team,” Stevenson said. “I thought our pitcher did wonderful with the lineup they had out there that can hit the ball all over the place. We made a few errors that cost us a couple of runs.”

The Falcons finish with a 5-15 record.

R H E

RRC/WWG 000 100 — 1 1 4

PA 200 504 — 11 12 1

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