NORTH MANKATO — Two down. One to go.
And this win was earned.
United South Central softball popped off in the fifth inning to claim a 5-3 Class A state semifinal win over BOLD Wednesday at Caswell Park. The Rebels are now one win away from repeating as Class A state champions. They will face West Lutheran, who earned a 4-0 semifinal win over Red Lake Falls, at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium in Minneapolis.
“I can’t stop smiling,” USC skipper TJ Schmidtke said. “Besides Mariah (Anderson) and our couple other seniors, we’re a pretty young group. To see them all respond like that is just amazing.”
Entering the bottom of the fifth a return to the state championship game looked bleak for the Rebels. With the game knotted 1-1 BOLD’s Piper O’Neill roped a two-run home run off Anderson to center field. The Warriors captured momentum with a 3-1 lead midway through the fifth.
But as fate would have it, USC would not be denied. The Rebels responded in what proved to be a lethal way as the top of the lineup was set to see Warriors’ standout pitcher Kaitlyn Flann, who finished sophomore campaign with a 0.98 ERA, for the third time.
Anderson smacked the first pitch of her at bat for a worm-burning ground ball which found the grass in right field. Ivy O’Rourke followed suit with a single and found herself standing on second after BOLD couldn’t throw out Anderson at first base.
Sophomore Alivia Bruegger, who belted the go-ahead two-run home run in Game 1 of last week’s section championship game over Martin County West, ripped the Rebels’ third-straight single, scoring Anderson to claw within one run.
With Bruegger on second and O’Rourke standing on third and momentum beginning to shift toward the reigning state champs, freshman catcher Grace Walton, who belted a home run and four RBIs in Tuesday’s quarterfinal mercy win, came up to the plate.
She worked a 2-2 count. Then she ripped USC’s fourth straight single up the gut to the center field grass.
O’Rourke and Bruegger scored safely. The Rebels took a 4-3 lead. Two batters later Brielle Obermeyer roped a single, scoring Teah Trytten, courtesy running for Walton, for a 5-3 lead.
“It happens every game,” Schmidtke said. “Once (Anderson) starts hitting the whole team follows. She’s such a good leader. Those young girls go up there and let it rip.
“That was fun to see.”
It proved to be all the insurance Anderson needed in the circle. She allowed a two-out single in the seventh inning, the only blemish after she recorded USC’s final six outs via strikeout.
She finished with 16 strikeouts while allowing three runs (two earned) off five hits and walked none. Of her 16 strikeouts, seven came after allowing the home run.
Olivia Bird finished 2 for 3 and drove in USC’s first run of the game. Carissa Hansen finished 2 for 3. O’Rourke and Bruegger each tallied two hits with the latter stealing a base. Trytten swiped three bases.