Boyceville slips past Cadott, ends softball season with loss to state-ranked Fall Creek
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BULLDOG Zoey Hellendrung slid safely into third base during a regional home softball game versus Cadott May 22. Hellendrung went 4-for-5 batting and scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Boyceville a 7-6 win. —photo by Rochelle Olson
Boyceville opened the 2024 WIAA Division 4 softball tournament against a pair of teams from the Cloverbelt West Conference.
Earning the number four seed in the lower half bracket of the Chippewa Falls Sectional, the Bulldogs hosted the Cadott Hornets, the fifth seed, in a regional quarterfinal at the Tiffany Creek Elementary field Wednesday, May 22, a day later than originally scheduled due to the previous day’s rain storms.
The Hornets buzzed the Bulldogs early taking a 4-2 lead into the fifth inning. Boyceville tied it with two runs in the fifth. After Cadott had taken another two-run advantage in the top of the sixth, Boyceville answered once again to tie it with a pair of their own scores in the bottom half of the frame. The game went into extra innings knotted at six all until the Bulldogs scored the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth to prevail 7-6.
Their reward, a road showdown just 24 hours later against the Cloverbelt West Champion Fall Creek “Crickets”, the state’s second-ranked squad in Division 4 according to the most recent coaches poll. While the Bulldogs put up a fight, it wasn’t enough to topple the top-seeded Crickets who gained their 26th win in 28 games with a 6-1 victory.
Boyceville, meanwhile, finished the season with a 14-7 record. The Fall Creek game marked the conclusion of the prep careers for half a dozen Bulldog seniors. Seeing their final action were Jadynn Traxler, Sarah Stoveren, Kaitlyn Mittlestadt, Hannah Dunn, Cora Leslie and Ali McRoberts.
Cadott
The Bulldogs took an early 2-0 lead with single runs in the first and second innings.
The Hornets scored two runs third and two more in the fourth to go ahead 4-2.
In the fifth, Hannah Dunn reached on a Cadott error and Zoey Hellendrung singled to put Bulldog runners at the corners. Jadynn Traxler came up with a hit in the next at bat to bring home both Dunn and Hellendrung to knot the score at 4-4.
Cadott pushed a pair of runs across home plate in the top of the sixth to retake the lead at 6-4.
Then in the bottom of the sixth, another Hornet error allowed Aubrey Malean to reach first. Two batters later Dunn walked to give the Bulldogs a pair of base runners. In the very next at bat, Zoey Hellendrung belted a 2-RBI double that allowed both Malean and Dunn to score and tie the game.
The contest remained deadlocked at six until the bottom of the ninth. With two outs and Hellendrung perched at third base, senior Sarah Stoveren caught only a portion of the ball with her swing causing it to dribble in front of home plate. Both the Cadott pitcher and catcher rushed to pick up the ball. The Hornet catcher got to there first but had to lob the softball over her pitcher which allowed Stoveren time to safely reach first as Hellendrung touched home plate with the winning run.
Hellendrung not only scored the winning run but led the Bulldogs’ offense with a 4-for-5 effort at the plate which included a double, three RBIs and two runs scored. Stoveren, Lillian Lain and Cora Leslie each had a pair of hits in the Bulldogs’ win. Dunn had a two-bagger and scored three times. In all, Boyceville finished with 13 hits.
Boyceville also survived its three errors.
Freshman Aubrey Malean picked up the win in the throwing circle as she pitched all nine innings for the Bulldogs. She struck out nine, and walked only two and surrendered all six Hornet runs on eight hits.
Fall Creek
Host and state-ranked Fall Creek used a four-run third inning to lift itself to a 6-1 win over Boyceville in a regional semifinal softball game played last Thursday, May 23 on the Crickets’ home field.
Despite suffering the pitching loss, Aubrey Malean held Fall Creek to seven hits and struck out four, but issued five walks which when coupled with eight stolen bases helped carry the Crickets to the win.
Boyceville struggled offensively throughout the game as it finished with just three hits, all of which came in the third inning when the Bulldogs scored their only run.
Lillian Lane hit a one-out double to get the Bulldogs going in the third. After a strikeout, Aubrey Malean singled in Lain for a 1-0 Boyceville lead. Delaney Olson then reached on a bunt single but Hannah Dunn hit into a fielder’s choice for the third out stranding a pair of base runners.
The Crickets plated four runs in the bottom half of the third on three hits, a walk, four stolen bases, three passed balls and a Bulldog error to take the lead for good and then added a pair of insurance runs in the fourth to take the 6-1 win.