Elk Mound softball falls to Altoona in D3 regional championship game

For the second straight season, Alttoona foiled Elk Mound’s aspirations of a regional softball title.

The Lady Railroaders eeked out a 4-3 victory over the Mounders in last Friday’s WIAA Division 3 regional championship game and will advance to the Cumberland Sectional. Altoona also defeated Elk Mound, 5-3, to claim last year’s regional title.

Elk Mound, who appeared in its ninth consecutive regional softball championship, having won four of them, finished the season 12-4 overall and 7-2 in the Dunn-St. Croix conference where it tied for second with Boyceville and Glenwood City.

The Mounders qualified for the title shot against Altoona after taking down conference foe Durand, 8-1, in a regional semifinal game held Wednesday, May 23 in Elk Mound.

Altoona 

Elk Mound enjoyed leads of 1-0 and 3-1 in the May 25 title game against Altoona

But each time, the Railroaders came back to tie the contest before taking their only lead, at 4-3, with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning and then held on for the win when the Mounders were unable to score in the top of the seventh.

With two outs in the top of the first inning, sophomore Clare Hallum got the Mounders on track with a single. Allison Lindquist then stepped to the plate and belted a double to bring Hallum in with the score for a 1-0 Elk Mound advantage.

It would remain that way until the Altoona third. That is when Averie Varsho, who led Altoona with three of its six hits, singled and scored to knot the contest.

Two inning later, Elk Mound reestablished the lead with a pair of runs. Sophomores Hailey Blaskowski and Sophie Cedarblade singled in back-to-back at bats. The pair eventually scored with the assistance of a Lindquist single to put the Mounders ahead 3-1.

Unfortunately, Elk Mound’s advantage was short lived. Altoona plated two runs in the bottom half of the inning to once again tie the game, this time at three all.

The contest, however, did not stay that way for long.

In the bottom half of the sixth, the Lady Rails took the lead for good much to the chagrin of the visiting Mounders. Elk Mound pitcher Clare Hallum walked Altoona’s Margaret Froelich to open the inning. Froelich later scored what proved to be the game-winning run on Varsho’s third hit of the game.

With a 4-3 lead, the Rails’ Ally Wagner silenced the Mounders in their final at bat to earn the complete game win. Wagner gave up seven hits  and two walks in seven innings of work.

The Mounders’ Clare Hallum was just as effective on the mound, allowing just six hits and two walks.

But four Mounders’ fielding errors proved costly as they helped the Rails score three of their four runs.

Allison Lindquist and Sophie Cedarblade led the offense with a pair of hits including Lindquist’s double.

Durand

Although Elk Mound had just one more hit than Durand (7-6) in last Wednesday’s WIAA Division 3 regional softball semifinal, the host Mounders more than made up for it on the scoreboard.

Elk Mound, behind the pitching of sophomore Clare Hallum, posted an 8-1 victory over visiting Durand in the May 23 tournament opener for both teams.

“I was very pleased with the performance of the team,” Head coach Samantha Stelter commented after the win. “While I didn’t think our hitting was exceptionally strong, we used very timely hits along with small ball and smart baserunning to play a very effective offensive game.”

The Panthers, seeded sixth in the lower half bracket of the Cumberland Sectional, lead briefly after scoring a run in the top half of the first.

The third-seeded Mounders responded with a pair in the bottom half of the opening inning and would not trail the rest of the game.

The game’s big blow was delivered by Elk Mound in the third when it pushed six runs across home plate to take command of the contest with an 8-1 lead.

Hallum, who picked up the complete game win on the mound, helped out her own cause with a one-out single in that decisive third inning. Senior Allison Lindquist followed with a walk and junior Abby Curry was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Durand starter Josie Radle then issued her second base on ball of the inning to junior Morgan Radtke to bring Hallum home.

Senior Madysen Borofka bashed a double that scored both Lindquist and Curry and gave Elk Mound a 5-1 lead.

But the Mounders were not through.

Fellow senior Crista Sweeney drew a walk on the heels of Borofka’s two-bag shot to again load the bases and chase Radle from the mound.

Radtke, Borofka and Sweeney would all touch home plate to make it an 8-1 game before Panthers’ relief hurler Reice Prissel could retire the side.

Although both squad had substantial scoring opportunities in the sixth inning, neither scored a run the rest of the way, giving Elk Mound an 8-1 win in the full seven-inning game.

Borofka finished with two hits, including that 2-RBI double, in three plate appearances. Sophie Cedarblade also had a pair of hits in four at bats while Hailey Blaskowski, Hallum and Lindquist each had a hit.

Hallum struck out eight, walked just two and gave up only five hits in seven innings of mound work.

The game also had nine errors with the Mounders committing three of them.

“Defensively, we had a few uncharacteristic errors which thankfully did not cost us,” said Stelter.

“Even with those errors, I felt as though our defense played one of their best games in terms of aggressiveness.”

“Playing a conference opponent in the playoffs is always tough because they know what they’re getting and can prepare,” continued the Mounders’ coach.

“Durand hit the ball well early on and put runners into scoring position late in the game but our defense, pitching and pitch calling did a great job of getting out of the innings,” Stelter concluded.