Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Softball State Tournament Bound

The Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Buccaneers scored a 10-0 5 inning win over Mabel-Canton today in Austin to advance to the State Class A Softball Tournament in North Mankato next week.  The Buccaneers enter the tournament undefeated (22-0).  Junior pitcher Trista Hering allowed 1 hit and struck out 9 Cougars in the victory.

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown took advantage of 5 Mabel-Canton errors while collecting 7 hits in the lopsided win.  The Buccaneers did not want a second game so they were very focused as evidenced by their 6 run second inning.  Ten batters went to the plate in the inning which started with a double by right fielder sophomore Lindsay Condon.  Hering was walked.  Following an out number 8 batter in the order, the team's only senior Mikayla Paulson coaxed a walk to load the bases.

Number 9 batter left fielder sophomore Ellie Ready clubbed a bases clearing double.  After the second out was recorded third baseman sophomore  Autumn Taylor smacked an RBI double.  Centerfielder junior Delaney Donahue was safe on an error.  Catcher sophomore Alison Rients clubbed a RBI double.

Pittman crushed a two run homer in the third inning. In the bottom of the 4th inning the Buccaneers put the game away when Donahue led the inning with a single.  Following a fly out Condon was safe on an error.  The second out was recorded before Paulson gained the basepaths due to an error.  In all there were 4 errors by Mabel-Canton in the inning.

Hering did not walk a batter.  The only hit off her came in the second inning with two outs.  The junior threw a total of 61 pitches in the 5 innings of work with 47 strikes while facing one batter over the minimum.

The latest rankings from the Minnesota Softball Coaches Association had Waterville-Elysian-Morristown ranked #2 in Class A.  New York Mills is #1 and captured the Section 6A crown to head back to state.  Randolph is rated #3 and won the Section 4A title on KDHL Wednesday evening at UNW-Roseville.  The seeding takes place this weekend with games on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. regardless of seed.