Lady Vikings fall in softball regional final to McDonell Central Macks

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by Marlys Kruger

Sports Correspondent

After having to wait an extra day to begin WIAA regional play due to heavy rain in the area, the Colfax softball team began their quest for a second consecutive regional title with a 12-0 blasting at home over Cornell/Lake Holcombe May 22.

24 hours later they traveled to Casper Field in Chippewa Falls to face the McDonell Central Macks and (pardon the pun), it was a whole new ballgame as they lost in six innings 10-0. The Vikings ended their season with a best ever 20-4 record, winning their first-ever Dunn-St. Croix Conference title undefeated at 14-0.

Cornell/Lake Holcombe

Although the Knights finished second in the Lakeland East Conference at 11-3 and were 11-8 overall, it was all Colfax from start to finish in this game. The Vikings started the bottom of the first with five straight hits and continued ringing the bats until eight runs scored. McKenna Shipman led off with a triple to center, Laikyn Beyer smacked a double off the center fielder’s glove, Jada Anderson sent a shot past the shortstop, Brynn Sikora banged a double, Hannah Peterson sent up a shot through the infield and it was 4-0.

Emma Medin drew a walk and Alexis Schindler knocked a solid shot past second base for two RBIs. Shipman came to the plate again and brought in a run with a sacrifice fly and Beyer claimed another hit to bring in the eighth run.

Beyer was in complete control from the circle, giving up her only hit in the second inning but a pair of strikeouts ended any threat. Sikora started the Viking second with another shot through the infield, Peterson bunted for a hit and moved to third on a couple of Knight throwing errors, allowing Sikora to score and Audrey Ebert brought her in on a ground ball out for a 10-0 lead.

Beyer issued her only free pass of the contest to start the fourth inning but reared back and whiffed the next two Knights and forced a routine ground ball to shortstop Anderson to end their half of the inning. Colfax finished off its scoring when Peterson collected her third hit of the game, stole second, moved up on Ebert’s ground ball and after Medin’s walk, both scored on Aleah Schindler’s smash down the first base line. Beyer put the Knights down 1-2-3 to end the game in five innings.

Five Vikings picked up multiple hits including Peterson with three, Shipman with two with a triple, Beyer had two, Sikora two with a double and Alexis Schindler with two. Beyer, Alexis Schindler and Aleah Schindler all had a pair of RBIs and the team used aggressive base running by stealing six bases. Beyer struck out nine batters for the win.

Chippewa Falls McDonell Central

On paper it seemed this would be a pretty competitive game with McDonell starting the week ranked sixth in the WFSCA coaches poll, while the Vikings were in the eighth spot. The Macks had just two losses on the season, both to number two ranked Fall Creek, who happen to be the Cloverbelt West undefeated champions with the Macks just behind them.

As it turned out, the McDonell hurler took complete control from start to finish, striking out the first 12 Viking batters she faced, finishing with 15 total strikeouts. The only base runner the Vikings had was Emma Medin in the fifth inning who drew a walk and stole second but a final K ended the inning.

The Viking defense had some solid moments including the first inning, after Beyer whiffed the first batter, and after giving up a double, first baseman Alexis Schindler dove for a pop up for the second out. A pop up to shortstop Anderson left the Mack runner on base.

The second stanza started innocently enough when a short pop up landed between shortstop and second base. After Beyer issued a walk, the Macks bunted and the out was recorded at first base, and a strikeout by Beyer made it two outs. But sometimes that third out is the hardest one to get. A short fly ball landed in left field, and a couple of throwing errors on the play allowed two runs to score, followed by a double to center field and a single through the infield making it 4-0. With a runner on first, the Macks had her try and steal second but Viking catcher Sikora’s throw was right on target to end the inning.

The defense held in the third, leaving a Mack runner on second and once again, the Vikings gave up a run in the bottom of the fourth with two outs. After a ground ball scooped up by Anderson produced the first out, another shot up the middle and a successful sacrifice bunt was followed by two straight hits for a 5-0 lead. Anderson snared a hard line drive to end the inning, leaving two more Macks stranded.

Sikora finally made contact at the plate in the fifth with a pop up to the pitcher and Ebert popped up to the catcher before Medin patiently drew her walk and was left at second. Shipman grounded to the third baseman in the sixth but two strikeouts before her completed the three outs.

The first Mack batter of the sixth inning grounded out to Anderson but three hard shots and a deep fly ball between left and centerfield made it 8-0. With runners on second and third, Colfax head coach John Dickinsen made the decision to walk the batter and load the bases to cut off the run at home and have a force at any base. However, with the infield drawn in, a hard smash past third brought in the final two runs, ending the game.

Colfax will say goodbye to four seniors including McKenna Shipman, Jada Anderson, Alexis Schindler and Mackenzie Loback, all who were instrumental in getting the Vikings from a 4-12 record their freshman year to a regional championship as juniors and conference championship as seniors.