The Fertile-Beltrami Falcons Girls Softball team was in the Section 8A Semifinals on Thursday evening with a chance to advance. The Falcons ran into the #2 seed in the tournament, the Badger-Greenbush/Middle River Gators, who took them down 15-1 in just five innings, forcing Fertile-Beltrami to play an elimination game against Ada-Borup/West later in the evening in the double-elimination tournament. Ada/Borup West was coming off a win over Sacred Heart and carried over the momentum into their game against Fertile-Beltrami, defeating the Falcons 11-5 to end their season. “I am still incredibly proud of the girls for this season,” said Falcons Coach Kerri Solie. “I told them after the game, one team has to win and one has to lose, tonight we didn’t quite do the things we needed to do to win.”
FERTILE-BELTRAMI VS BGMR –
It was all BGMR throughout the game, but the Falcons did have a nice opportunity in the top of the first inning but would strand two runners on base. Fertile-Beltrami drew three walks to start the game and if it wasn’t for a pickoff at first base for the first out of the inning, they would’ve had the bases loaded. The Gators starting pitcher would settle in after that and retire the final two Falcons hitters and end the Fertile-Beltrami threat.
BGMR would immediately take a big lead plating 5 runs in the bottom of the first. The Gators started with three straight singles scoring their first run, and after a throwing error and a dropped pop-up by the Falcons, the Gators would score two more to take a 3-0 lead. After an rbi sac fly scored one more, the Gators would get a 2-out double from Sierra Westberg to score the fifth run as the Gators took a 5-0 lead after one inning of play.
Fertile-Beltrami would get one run back in the top of the second when Julia Netland would work a leadoff walk, and on another pickoff attempt, come all the way around to score from first base as the ball would sail into rightfield all the way to the fence. The Falcons would go 1-2-3 after that giving BGMR a 5-1 lead after the top of the second inning.
The Gators would score four more runs in the bottom of the second, three of them coming with two outs. A leadoff single, sacrifice bunt, and wild pitch scored the Gators first run, they would get back-to-back 2-out hits, including a double from Cassie Dahl. After that, another Falcons error would extend the inning, and BGMR would make Fertile-Beltrami pay scoring two more runs to bring thier lead to 9-1 after two innings of play.
Fertile-Beltrami would get their first hit of the game from Riley Moland in the top of the third inning, but nothing more, and be held scoreless. “I didn’t think we hit the way we were capable of,” said Falcons Coach Kerri Solie. “We just never really seemed to get things going tonight.”
BGMR continued to pour in the runs, scoring 6 more in the bottom of the third to widen thier lead to 15-1. The Gators did it on four hits, a walk, and a couple of Falcons errors with the highlight of the inning coming on a triple from Jaci Hanson, who came around to score after a throwing error by Fertile-Beltrami. “Throughout the game we really just did not play clean,” said Falcons Coach Kerri Solie. “One inning killed us really in both games tonight and we gave our opponents way too many runs.”
The Falcons would get another hit from Brooklyn Strem to lead off the top of the fourth, but they would strand her on third base for another scoreless inning.
JoJo Dunbar would come in and pitch the fourth inning for the Falcons, and deliver the first scoreless inning defensively for Fertile-Beltrami while picking up a strikeout. It wouldn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, as Fertile-Beltrami would go quietly in the top of the fifth, and BGMR would win the game 15-1 on the run rule after five innings of play.
| Game 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Fertile-Bel | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| BGMR | 5 | 4 | 6 | 0 | – | 15 | 12 | 1 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Brooklyn Strem- F-B (LP) | 3 | 12 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| JoJo Dunbar- F-B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Lauren Stenberg- BGMR (WP) | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
For Fertile-Beltrami-
Riley Moland 1 for 1, BB
Brooklyn Strem 1 for 2
Julia Netland 0 for 1, BB, run
For BGMR –
Mckenzie Dahl 3 for 4, 3 runs
Jordan Lee 2 for 4, 2 rbi, 2 SB, run
Jaci Hanson 2 for 2, 3 rbi, run, Sac Fly
FERTILE-BELTRAMI VS ADA-BORUP/WEST
Errors continued to hurt Fertile-Beltrami, as the Falcons would commit one in the top of the first inning against the Cougars to help them take a 1-0 lead. Matti Stene would work a leadoff walk, and after a pop-out, a Falcons error would put runners on first and second base with one out. Brooke Scherfenberg would then deliver a 2-out rbi single to give Ada/Borup-West a 1-0 lead after half an inning of play.
Fertile-Beltrami would get a pair of hits from Jackie Lunak and Riley Moland in the bottom of the first, but a groundball double play would end the inning and keep Ada-Borup/West in front 1-0 after one inning.
Brooklyn Strem got the start in the circle once again for the Falcons and put up a 0 on the scoreboard for the Cougars in the top of the second inning allowing a 2-out single but nothing more. Strem would then leadoff in the bottom of the second inning with a single, and after a groundout would advance her to second base, two wild pitches would allow her to move up to third base, and then advance home to tie the game at 1-1 after two innings of play.
Strem continued to impact the game, delivering a 1-2-3 top of the third inning to get the Falcons back into the dugout. Fertile-Beltrami would once again get two runners on base in the bottom of the third inning, as Jackie Lunak would get hit by a pitch, and Riley Moland would draw a 1-out walk to put runners on first and second base. Ariel Johnson would work out of the jam however for the Cougars, keeping the game tied at 1-1 after three innings of play.
Ada-Borup/West would breakthrough in the top of the fourth inning for three runs. They would get a leadoff double from Brooke Scherfenberg, and after a 1-out single from Callie Solseng put runners on the corners, the next batter would hit a groundball that the Falcons would throw away, allowing two runs to score. Strem would get the next hitter out, but Matti Stene would deliver a 2-out single down the left-field line after that to plate one more and give the Cougars a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth.
Fertile-Beltrami would get two runs back in the home half of the frame. Julia Netland would reach on an error to begin the inning, and after a 1-out single from JoJo Dunbar, the Falcons had two runners on. After a lineout, Jackie Lunak would drive both runners home on a single to cut the deficit down to 4-3.
Ada-Borup/West would erupt in the top of the fifth inning for seven runs to put the game out of reach at 11-3. The Falcons fell apart defensively in the inning and gave Ada-Borup/West lots of extra chances to score runs. The Cougars took advantage of 5 Falcon’s errors to go along with four hits in the inning to take control of the game. “We counted in our book and we gave them six of their seven runs in that inning,” said Falcons Coach Kerri Solie. “We lost the game 11-5 so if we take those runs away we would’ve been in a tie game at 5-5.”
Fertile-Beltrami would go 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning, but keep the Cougars off the scoreboard in the top of the sixth inning as well. The Falcons would get two runners on in the bottom of the sixth inning, as JoJo Dunbar reached on an error, and Olivia Ystenes singled to centerfield. The inning would end however on a line shot right at the shortstop off the bat of Jackie Lunak.
Ada-Borup/West would go quietly in the top of the seventh inning, but Fertile-Beltrami would only manage two runs in the bottom of the frame, giving the Cougars an 11-5 win, ending Fertile-Beltrami’s season. “For the most part our defense and bats were spot on all season, and for whatever reason, we just did not have it tonight,” said Falcons Head Coach Kerri Solie. “It was a great group of Seniors, and hopefully the underclassmen remember what this feels like because it’s not a good feeling.”
| Game 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Ada-Borup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 11 | 3 |
| Fertile-Bel | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 7 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Brooklyn Strem- F-B (LP) | 7 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Ariel Johnson- Ada-Borup (WP) | 7 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
For Fertile-Beltrami –
Riley Moland 2 for 3, BB
Jackie Lunak 2 for 4, 2 rbi
Brooklyn Strem 2 for 3, run
Julia Netland 1 for 4, 2 rbi, run
For Ada-Borup/West –
Brooke Scherfenberg 2 for 4, 2 runs, rbi
Emma Stewart 2 for 5, rbi, run
Matti Stene 1 for 4, 3 runs, BB, SB
Callie Solseng 1 for 3, 2 runs, BB, SB
