Kimball
After earning the 8-5 road playoff win over seventh-seeded Foley, the Eagles advanced to the double elimination portion of the tournament and a match-up with the second-seeded Kimball Area Cubs.
The Eagles were greeted to this portion of the tournament with a five-run first inning and eight-run second inning by the Cubs. Trailing 13-0 after two innings, the Eagles eventually fell by a 15-0 final via 15-run rule in four innings from the College of St. Benedict’s on May 22.
“We got behind from the first inning,” Eagles head coach Dave Dziengel said via email, “and never could recover.”
The game ended when the Cubs tacked on two runs in the fourth inning.
In the loss, the Eagles posted two hits, one by Alison Thielen and one by Laura Heuring.
Kamryn Mathies took the pitching loss for the Eagles, giving up 13 runs on eight hits and nine walks over two innings.
Melrose
With this loss the tenth-seeded Eagles dropped into an elimination game versus the third-seeded Melrose Dutchmen.
One loss away from elimination, the Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning. This inning proved short-lived. The Dutchmen struck for four runs in the second to take a 4-3 lead and added on four more runs in the third. The Eagles couldn’t battle back in an eventual 8-3 season-
ending defeat.
“We could not maintain the momentum we created in the first inning when we jumped out to a 3-0 lead,” coach Dziengel said via email. “… We had runners on each inning but we could not find a way to get those runs across home plate.”
The Dutchmen scored all eight of their runs across the second and third inning by stringing hits together, coaxing three walks, and reaching on one hit batter.
Offensively, the Eagles recorded six hits. No Eagles batter finished with more than one hit, but Siena Hemmesch did finish one-for-three with two RBI and Lily Schultz one-for-three with an RBI.
With the loss, the Eagles finished the season with a 9-14 record. This defeat brought an end to five Eagles seniors’ playing careers, including Zoey Schmidt, Ellaree Anderson, Olivia Kramer, Hailey Savage and Amara Boddy.