Panther softball takes sixth place at class AA State tournament - Herald Journal Publishing
Randolph 3, GSL 2North Mankato - The GSL softball team sustained their first loss of their 2024 playoff run at the hands of the number one one overall seed Randolph, 3-2 in the first round of the state tournament.The Panthers starting pitcher Lydia Dietel matched the much hailed Randolph starting pitcher Carter Raymond, as the game remained a scoreless tie […] The South Minnesota Independent (GSL) softball team, the Panthers, has taken sixth place at the class AA State tournament after losing to number one overall seed Randolph 3-2. The game was a scoreless tie through three innings, with the starting pitcher Lydia Dietel matching the much hailed Randolph starting pitcher Carter Raymond's impressive performance. The Panthers broke through in the fourth inning, with Addy Graupmann and Grace Lipke leading the scoring. However, the game was unable to turn the game around, with Randolph's Carter Raymond coming out on top with a two-RBI single to center field to tie the game. The loss left the Panthers in the consolation bracket of the class tournament.
प्रकाशित : 10 महीने पहले द्वारा By Oray Tangen, Sports Writer में Sports
Randolph 3, GSL 2
North Mankato – The GSL softball team sustained their first loss of their 2024 playoff run at the hands of the number one one overall seed Randolph, 3-2 in the first round of the state tournament.
The Panthers starting pitcher Lydia Dietel matched the much hailed Randolph starting pitcher Carter Raymond, as the game remained a scoreless tie through three innings. Raymond’s pitching success was the subject of a Star Tribune article, and if the Panther hitters knew Raymond’s prowess, they did not show it. Lydia Simons led the game off with a single. Audrey Petersen hit a sharp liner right at the shortstop for an out. The Panthers stranded Simons at second base, but the Panther bats showed that Raymond wasn’t invincible.
The Panthers broke through in the top of the fourth inning. With one out Addy Graupmann singled to centerfield. Grace Lipke followed with a single. Both runners advanced to third and second respectively on an errant throw from a Randolph outfielder. Lydia Dietel laid down an RBI sacrifice bunt to score Graupmann and the Panthers took a 1-0 lead. Grace Lipke took third base on the play.
With two outs, Callie Klabunde hit a pop fly to right field. The high winds carried the ball close to the right field line, away from the Rockets right fielder Kylee Carey. Carey bobbled and dropped the ball and Grace Lipke came into score to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
The lead would be short lived as the Rockets loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Lydia Dietel nearly made her way out of the jam, getting two straight pop-fly outs, but Randolph pitcher Carter Raymond came up big, getting a two-RBI single to center field to tie the game. Second baseman Maya Preston followed with an RBI single to center field to give the Rockets a 3-2 lead.
The Panthers were unable to get anything going in the top of the fifth and sixth innings.
Betsimay Frahm got on base with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, representing the tying run, but Frahm was stranded at first base to end the game.
The loss put the Panthers in the consolation bracket of the class tournament.
GSL 7, Proctor 4
With the first round loss, the Panthers had to play the Proctor Rails in the 11:30 a.m. consolation elimination game. Proctor lost to St. Agnes in their state quarterfinal game 5-0.
The wind remained strong out of the west for the second day in a row, giving the fielders trouble on high fly balls. This was evident in the first inning when a Proctor fly ball, which looked like it was destined for Taryn Zellmann in left field, landed in the infield dirt as Panther shortstop Lydia Simons got turned around and couldn’t make the catch.
The unfortunate play led to a run for Proctor, as Anika Burke singled down the left field line, scoring Brooke Patterson, giving the Rails a 1-0 lead.
The Panther offense responded immediately. For the second game in a row Lydia Simons led off with a single to left field. Hannah Graf followed with a bunt single and Simons would get to third base on the play. Audrey Petersen put the Panthers on the board with an RBI single to right field, scoring Simons.
Addy Graupmann put GSL in front 2-1, forcing an error on Proctor that scored Hannah Graf.
Grace Lipke’s sacrifice fly scored Audrey Petersen to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead.
GSL struck again in the bottom of the third inning. Audrey Petersen singled for the second time in the game and gained scoring position by stealing second base and taking third base on an overthrow. With two outs, Grace Lipke collected her second RBI of the game by singling to right field to score Petersen, and the Panthers went up 4-1.
The Rails responded in the top of the fourth inning, drawing three walks off of Lydia Dietel to load the bases. With two outs, Brooke Patterson cleared the bases with a double to the centerfield wall. Patterson got thrown out trying to advance to third base on the play, but the Rails tied the game 4-4.
GSL retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Audrey Petersen singled to center field. The Proctor center fielder dove, but missed the ball, Petersen took second as the ball rolled away from the Proctor defense.
With two outs, Grace Lipke tripled to right field, scoring Petersen and Addy Graupmann, and putting the Panthers up 6-4.
The Panthers scored their final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. Callie Klabunde led off with a double to right field. With two outs, the unstoppable Lydia Simons singled to right field to score Klabunde, and the Panthers took a 7-4 lead.
Proctor went three up three down in the top of the seventh, and GSL earned the win to move to the consolation championship.
Dassel-Cokato 1, GSL 0
After a six hour layoff, the Panthers squared off with the Dassel-Cokato Chargers in the 7 p.m. night cap class AA consolation championship.
The game represented these two Wright County Conference foes third meeting of the year. Dassel-Cokato defeated GSL 9-0 and 5-4 in a double header at GSL on April 25.
Unfortunately, The Chargers swept the season series, getting a 1-0 win to take the class AA consolation championship.
The Panthers were only able to get three hits off talented Charger pitcher Aubrey Quern. Two of those hits came from Panther shortstop Lydia Simons.
Simons singled to lead off the game, and took second on a charger passed ball, but was stranded at second to end the bottom of the first inning. Simons represented the only GSL base-runner to reach second base until the bottom of the seventh inning.
Meanwhile, the Chargers scored their lone run in the top of the fourth inning. With one out Anyah Guennigsman hit an infield single to the left side, Guennigsman gained second base on the throw attempt. Guinnigsman scored on a GSL fielding error on GSL third basemen Audrey Petersen, attempting to field a Hannah Putnam grounder.
Down 1-0, the Panthers threatened with their last chance in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Grace Lipke led the bottom of the inning off striking out, but got on base due to a passed ball. With two outs Betsimay Frahm singled to shallow left field, putting runners on first and second.
Charger pitcher Aubrey Quern got out of the jam by striking out Taryn Zellmann to end the game.
The Panthers finish the season with a 21-7 record overall.
“Super impactful group,” coach Taylor Jones said of senior led Panthers. “Overall I think we played really well in this tournament, not the result you want going 1-2, but we had chances against some really good pitching,” Jones went on to say.
विषय: Softball