Regular softball season ends, playoffs begin in rain

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Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00

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By Gary Riess, coach.

Kimball finished the regular season with two doubleheaders and tried to open the playoffs on Friday but rain, as too often this season, interfered. EV-W was Tuesday's foe. The two games were a pitching and fielding nightmare. Seven pitchers were hit for 59 runs, 45 hits, and four home runs. The fielders for both teams also struggled, as there were

39 fielding errors in a marathon that took almost four hours to complete. On the down side, the Eagles were able to come up with just a bit more in each game and swept the two games. Kimball had defeated EV-W the last 11 times that they had played, so the Eagles were very happy with their victories.

The games were filled with big innings. The Cubs had big innings of eight, and two innings of six runs each. The Eagles countered with two seven-run innings, a six-run inning and a 5-run inning spurt. Each team had leads in both games, but no lead was safe on this day, as it came down to who would have the last big inning. In the first game, EV-W had a three-run lead going into the seventh. With two outs, the Cubs made two errors and the Eagles plated seven runs. The Cubs came back with six runs in the bottom of the seventh, but it wasn't enough. For the game, the Cubs hit three home runs. Megan Garding hit two home runs and tallied six RBI. Natalie Stein homered also, and went 4-5. Many players had multiple hits, as the Cubs had 16 hits in the game. Game two was more of the same. EV-W raced out to a 7-1 lead but the Cubs came back to take a

9-7 lead, going into the sixth. EV-W then scored six runs and the Cubs couldn't answer to end the contest.

The Cubs took a mental health day on Wednesday. After five games in four days, and the fact that all the seniors would be on a band outing, the coaches decided to give the players a day off to recharge and regroup before facing Holdingford on Thursday. Holdingford was in first place in the CMC, and would go on to win the conference title with a 12-2 record. The Cubs played and pitched much better, but the Huskers hitters were that good as they cranked two home runs, five triples, and six doubles in the two games. Kimball reduced their error count to three and two for the day. The Cubs threatened to score in multiple innings, having two runners on several times, but the Huskers defense came up big and only Megan Garding's RBI double would break through. Olivia Fischer was 2-3 and Shelby Seth and Megan Jones chipped in with hits, but the Huskers were too tough on this day as they clinched the CMC title.

The Section 5A West playoffs began on Friday. The sixth-seeded Cubs went to three seed ACGC. The Falcons jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first, using two doubles and three singles to score. The rain began to fall in the bottom of the first. In the third, the Cubs got untracked with a seven-run rally. Olivia Fischer and Tiffany Berscheid walked to start the rally. RBI's from Garding, Steph Konz, Melody Rose, and Alyssa Hurrle gave the Cubs a 7-4 lead. The Falcons came back in the bottom of the third using two wind blown base hits and another double to score four more runs. The inning could have been worse, but two Falcon runners were caught in rundowns and prevented from scoring. As the fourth inning began, the drizzle turned into a driving rain. The Cubs batted, and then after the first batter of the inning for ACGC, the umpires called a rain delay. The 15-minute wait didn't give the storm enough time to pass and the rain continued into a downpour making the field unplayable. The umpires suspended the game and it was scheduled to resume Monday, May 23, with the score 8-7 and an ACGC runner on second with no outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The second round of the playoffs is scheduled for Tuesday and the Subsection finals are Thursday.