Lady Vikings finish busy week of softball with two wins and one loss

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by Marlys Kruger

Sports Correspondent

It was a cool, windy day last Monday, May 3 when the Colfax softball team hosted the Mondovi Buffaloes. After falling behind early, the Vikings saw their comeback fall one run short, dropping the contest 8-7. But 24 hours later, the Vikings went to Boyceville and bruised the Bulldogs in a make-up game by a 10-0 score, and finished the week at home with an 11-8 win over Durand-Arkansaw. All three games were Dunn-St. Croix Conference contests.

Colfax, who currently sits in third place in the D-SC with a 6-4 mark and is 8-4 overall, has four contests, all in conference, remaining on its regular-season slate. The Vikings hosted Spring Valley this past Monday, will be in Elk Mound on Thursday with the Mounders returning the favor and traveling to Colfax on Friday. Elmwood-Plum City plays in Colfax next Monday, May 15 to close out regular and conference seasons.

Mondovi 

The Buffaloes are the only undefeated team in conference play and they showed why right off the bat. They scored a trio of runs in the first and second innings for a 6-0 lead before the Vikings picked up a run in the bottom of the second. Mondovi tallied two more in the fourth but the Viking defense along with pitcher Mallory Field shut them down the final three innings.

The Vikings had a big three-run third inning, added a single run in the sixth and were down 8-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh. They managed to score two runs but their rally fell short, resulting in the one run loss to the conference leaders.

Audrey Ebert had a huge day at the plate, slamming a double and a home run, collecting four RBIs and scoring once. McKenna Shipman smacked a pair of hits with two RBIs and scored a run while Jada Anderson banged out a pair of hits, scoring twice, Alexis Schindler nailed two hits with a run scored and an RBI and Brynn Sikora added a hit and came home once.

Field hurled a solid game in the loss, giving up just three hits while whiffing a pair of Buffaloes and walking five.

Boyceville

It was somewhat of a revenge game when the two teams faced off in a make up game from a week earlier. The Bulldogs had pulled out an 8-7 win in eight innings in their previous meeting, but the Vikings showed they were the better team this time around. Colfax pitcher Field nearly pulled off a no-hitter, allowing just one Bulldog hit in six innings. She struck out five batters, and most importantly, did not issue any free passes in the contest.

Colfax scored in five of the six innings, starting with a single run in the first, but in their big second inning, they scored four runs after they loaded the bases on a single and two free passes. Another walk brought in a run and Anderson cleared the bases with a double for a 5-0 lead. Two more runs in the fourth, a single run in the fifth and two in the sixth ended the game with the 10 run rule.

The Colfax offense banged out nine hits and took advantage of five Bulldog errors to score their 10 runs. Shipman, Anderson and Ebert all pounded out two hits with Anderson slamming a double and collecting five of the Colfax RBIs. Hannah Peterson smacked a two-bagger and scored twice with an RBI, Emma Medin and Ella Peterson both crossed home plate twice with Peterson adding an RBI, Ebert picked up a hit, scored once and brought a runner in while Sikora added a hit with an RBI and a run scored.

Durand-Arkansaw

It was the second win of the season over the Panthers but the Vikings were forced to come from behind and stop a Panther rally in the seventh inning to preserve the win. Durand-Arkansaw jumped out of the box with three runs in the top of the first and after the Vikings scored once in their half of the inning, the Panthers added a run in the second for a 4-1 lead. 

Sometimes it’s the smallest plays that can lead to bigger things, the Vikings discovered in the third inning. Lead-off batter McKenna Shipman set down a perfect bunt for an infield hit, which was followed by Ella Peterson’s single, and Anderson’s base hit which brought Shipman in. Anderson moved to second on a steal and after a groundout, Audrey Ebert was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A pop up created a second out but Medin came up in the clutch with a two RBI double to the fence. Hannah Peterson then slammed a ball over the first base bag, clearing the bases with a triple and Sierra Shipman banged a shot off the pitcher’s leg for a hit, bringing in Peterson..A flyout ended the inning but the Vikings were ahead 7-4.

Durand-Arkansas drew closer with two more runs in the fifth but the Vikings responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning then added some insurance runs with three in the sixth. Sikora brought two of those runs in with a solid triple then scored on a wild pitch for an 11-6 advantage heading into the final inning. 

The Panthers still had some fight in them , scoring two runs in the seventh on a walk, a Viking error, a single and a bunt but a defensive gem by shortstop Anderson as she snared a deep pop fly and gunned the ball to the second baseman, catching the Panther runner too far off the base for a game ending double play.

Anderson batted 3-for-4 in the contest with a pair of RBIs and runs each, Shipman and Medin both collected a couple of hits with Shipman coming home twice and Medin picking up two RBIs. Schindler slammed a double and scored twice while Sikora and Hannah Peterson both tripled with Sikora crossing home plate twice and Peterson bringing in two RBIs. Field hurled all seven innings once again, allowing seven hits with four strikeouts and four walks.