Lady Mounders end season with loss to Regis

ELK MOUND — After receiving a bye in the first round as the number two seed in the regional tournament, the Elk Mound softball team fell victim to the number six seed Eau Claire Regis team on their home field May 28 by a score of 6-1. The game was played under sunny skies after being postponed from the day before due to a pouring rain.

Regis put two runners on base in the first inning after Mounder hurler Dayna Kotecki struck out their leadoff batter, and after another batter went down on strikes, a base hit up the middle looked like a sure run for the Ramblers. But center fielder Elizabeth Schreiber had other ideas as she gunned down the runner at the plate with catcher Morgan McDougall making the tag.

The Mounders left a runner on second base in their half of the inning and both teams went down in order in the second. Regis broke through in the third on a shot that went off Kotecki’s leg, a bunt that wasn’t fielded fast enough that put runners on first and third, an infield error to load the bases and a two run single up the middle. A fly ball to the outfield resulted in a tag up for a 3-0 lead but the Mounders got out of the inning when second baseman Mckenna Borofka tagged a runner out in a run down between first and second base.

Elk Mound responded in the bottom of the inning with a one out hit by Abbey Olson who stole second then came home on a base hit from Lexi DeLong, but a fly out ended the inning with just the one run. The Mounder defense came through in the top of the fourth when Regis again had a pair of runners on base but a long running catch by Olson in right field saved a run from scoring.  The Regis coach hadn’t learned his lesson yet however, as he tried to score a runner on a base hit to center resulting in Schreiber nailing the runner at the plate again for the third out.

Elk Mound left another runner on second in the bottom of the inning on a two out walk and steal by Katie Benson, but a strikeout ended the inning as the Mounders again couldn’t come up with any big hits off  Regis pitcher Kayla-Pettis-Miller. The Ramblers padded their lead with three more runs in the fifth on a couple of walks with a bunt and two hits before third baseman Katie Johnson snared a smash down the line for the third out.

Kotecki kept the Ramblers off the board in the final two innings but the Mounders left a runner stranded in the sixth. They mounted a threat in the seventh when Emily Ausman singled and McDougall beat out a groundball to the shortstop but again the bats failed as a fly out and ground out ended the game.

Kotecki absorbed the loss allowing 13 hits with three strikeouts and a pair of walks and the Mounders had just three hits in the game.

Elk Mound finished the season with a 15-8 overall record and were 13-3 in conference play for second place.

EAU CLAIRE REGIS    0  0  3  0  3  0  0 – 6
ELK MOUND           0  0  1  0  0  0  0 – 1