Colfax girls lose conference softball games to Mondovi and Spring Valley
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by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
With the regular season getting close to the end, the Lady Vikings dropped a pair of softball games on the road last week.
They started on Tuesday, June 1 with a close 5-3 loss at Mondovi, then on Friday, lost a one-run slug fest 15-14 at Spring Valley.
Colfax, 3-10 in conference and overall, played a home contest against Durand June 7 to close the regular season, then begins WIAA Division 4 regional playoffs Wednesday, June 9 at home as the number eight seed playing number nine seed Eau Claire Regis. The winner will travel to Glenwood City next Monday, June 14 to play the top-seeded Hilltoppers.
Mondovi
Colfax let a scoring chance slip away in the first inning when Jada Anderson and Bailey Bradford took back-to-back walks with one out but, a fly ball out and a strikeout left them stranded.
Mondovi scored twice in the second on a double, a fielder’s choice, and a single before Colfax hurler Anna Geissler whiffed two Buffalo batters and fielded a ground ball and threw to first to end the inning.
Mondovi added a run in the third on a couple of hits but a slick double play started by Geissler on another ground ball ended the inning. Geissler threw to second baseman Marissa Harmon for one out and Harmon zipped a throw to Ella Peterson at first for the last out.
Jenna Goodell singled to start the third but didn’t get any farther, and Mallory Field drew a one-out walk in the fourth, and yet again her teammates couldn’t come up with a big hit.
Colfax finally broke through with a run in the fifth when Alexis Schindler smacked a base hit, stole second, and came in on an error. But a walk to Harmon and another error with Anderson batting did not produce any more runs.
The Vikings let another golden opportunity slip away in the sixth after Peterson singled, advanced to third on two ground ball outs, after a walk to Geissler, another grounder left both runners on the base paths.
A Viking error along with a hit and a couple of untimely walks allowed Mondovi to add two more runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 5-1 lead, but the Vikings made a great effort in the seventh for a comeback. Anderson singled, an error followed and a double off the bat of Peterson brought Anderson and Bradford home. Peterson ended up on third but with two outs, a strikeout ended the contest.
Peterson led the offense with two hits while Geissler threw a pretty strong five innings, giving up just four hits and three runs with four Ks, and two walks. Field came in for the final inning and gave up two runs on two hits with both, a pair of strikeouts and walks.
Spring Valley
The Cardinals were winless on the year and the first time the Vikings beat them it took a come-from-behind walk-off hit to seal the win. So it was no surprise that this game came down to the wire before a winner was declared, too.
It looked more like it would be a blow out for the Vikings when they scored six runs in the top of the first inning, Harmon, Anderson, Peterson, McKenna Shipman, and Goodell all had hits to help get the runs in.
But, the bottom of the inning didn’t bode well for the Vikings when hurler Field had control problems and walked seven Cardinals, and gave up a couple of hits, with a Viking error in the middle of all that, it was 8-6 for Spring Valley.
Colfax knotted it at 8-8 when Anderson and Peterson scored in the top of the second, but the Cardinals took the lead back with a run in the bottom of the inning.
After Bradford drew a walk in the third, she came around to score on a hit from Peterson, and the Vikings added four runs in the fourth for a 13-9 advantage.
The Cardinals were not going to roll over, and they used three walks, a single, and a double to tie it up at 13-13 after five innings.
Like the first time they faced off, Colfax came back yet again, this time when Anderson singled, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and came home on a passed ball.
Colfax was unable to hold on to the one-run lead, however, as the Cardinals scored two in the sixth starting with a hit batsman and a couple of doubles. The Vikings went down in order in their final at bat, resulting in the one-run, 15-14, loss.
Anderson belted three hits, scored three times and brought in two runs. Peterson had three hits with two RBIs and two runs scored. Shipman finished with two hits, two runs scored, and two RBIs.
Field pitched the first five innings in place of the usual Geissler and gave up seven hits with 13 runs and 12 walks. Schindler gave up the final two runs on two hits and whiffed two batters.