Colfax claims first ever D-SC Conference softball championship with win over Elk Mound

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by Marlys Kruger

Sports Correspondent

COLFAX — It was a real battle from start to finish but with a come-from-behind 7-6 win over the Elk Mound Mounders in the game played May 7 on the Viking’s home field, it gave the Vikings a 12-0 record in Dunn-St. Croix Conference with two conference games left. Boyceville, Elk Mound and Mondovi all have four losses in the conference, meaning the Vikings were the D-SC Conference champions for the first time in school history.

After a scoreless first inning, Elk Mound’s Kendra Garnett slammed a ball between two Viking outfielders to reach second base and scored the first run of the game on a ball to the outfield off the bat of Alexis Joachim for a 1-0 lead. Mounder hurler Hailey Meyer shut the Vikings down for the second straight inning and in the top of the third, Ellie Schiszik smacked a triple and scored the Mounders’ second run on a Meyer base hit.

The Vikings cut the deficit in half in their half of the third when Laikyn Beyer banged a two-base hit with two outs and scored on Brynn Sikora’s hard smash through the infield. Meyer whiffed the next batter to keep her team ahead however.

Both teams failed to add any runs in the fourth but the Mounders began to make some noise in the fifth. Schiszik started with a solid single to center but when Elisabeth Beskow laid down a bunt that landed right in front of the plate, Colfax catcher Sikora gunned her out at first. Schiszik tried to advance to third on the play but she was also gunned down on a throw across the diamond for the second out. That didn’t deter the Mounders however, as Meyer drew a walk, Garnett singled to left, Jaidynn Sarauer sent a hard grounder to shortstop Jada Anderson who couldn’t make a play to load the bases. Alivia Baskin hit a slow roller to second and once again the out was not made to make it 3-1, a wild pitch brought another run in and a big base hit from Alexandria Solberg made it 5-1. Beyer reared back and whiffed the next Mounder to get out of the inning.

But the Vikings knew what was at stake, and although they knew they would have two more games to earn the championship, the Mounder’s rally only fueled their fire. McKenna Shipman started the bottom of the fifth with a single to center and Beyer followed with her own single with Shipman being aggressive on the base paths and moving to third with Beyer advancing to second on the throw. Anderson picked a great time for her 100th hit as she smashed a single to center, scoring Shipman and courtesy runner Aleah Schindler. After Sikora slammed a double to bring Anderson home, Audrey Ebert singled to center, moving Sikora to third and running to second on the throw. Emma Medin drew a walk, Alexis Schindler reached on an infield error, allowing Sikora to score for a 5-5 tie. After a strikeout, Shipman came back to the plate and singled for the second time in the inning, bringing pinch runner Olivia Schindler in for the go ahead run and Medin in for the seventh run of the inning. A pop up ended the inning with the Vikings up 7-5.

“We talked before the bottom of the fifth and I emphasized what we’ve done in the past,” Viking head coach John Dickinsen said. “We can’t get it all back on any one hit so stay the course and trust yourselves. We needed to hit good pitches and take it one bat at a time and have good bats stacked up to get us where we need to be. The team responded and we were able to stack up a lot of good at bats in a row to take the lead and ultimately win,” he added.

Elk Mound kept the pressure on with another run in the sixth. After a pop up to the catcher, Schiszik and Beskow both drew walks and Meyer tried to help her cause with a solid smash up the middle for an RBI. But a fly ball to right field and a hard grounder fielded by Anderson ended the inning with two Mounders on the base paths.

The Vikings failed to add any insurance runs in their half of the sixth and it was all up to Beyer and their defense to come up with three more outs. A pop up to Anderson, a strikeout and a ground ball to Beyer with the throw to first ended the game and gave the Vikings their long awaited championship.

Beyer earned the win, allowing eight hits with eight strikeouts and four free passes. Shipman batted 3-for-4 and brought in the winning RBI. Anderson was 2-for-4 with two RBIs as the Vikings totaled 10 hits.

Meyer finished with six strikeouts and three walks. Meyer picked up two RBIs and Solberg had one. Schiszik and Meyer both hit 2-for-3 to lead the Mounders.

Colfax 17, Elmwood-Plum City 2

The Vikings continued to roll with another conference win at home Thursday, May 9, pounding the Elmwood-Plum City Wolves 17-2 which lasted only four innings due to the large difference in score.

Colfax started with a four run first, added six in the second, three in the third and four in the fourth while the Wolves could manage just two tallies in the top of the fourth.

After the dust had settled, the Lady Vikings tallied 13 hits and 13 stolen bases. Anderson was an offensive force once again, batting 3-for-3 with four RBIs and crossing home plate three times while swiping a trio of bases. Sikora was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored with two stolen bases, Hannah Peterson banged a hit to bring in a couple of runs, Beyer batted 2-for-3 scoring three times and knocking in a pair of runs and Ebert and Alexis Schindler both slammed hits as Ebert brought two runs in and came home once.

Beyer earned her 16th win of the season allowing three hits with five strikeouts and walking just two Wolves.