Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms softball team downs Cannons Falls, falls to Zumbrota/Mazeppa in Section 1AA softball tournament

The Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms softball team, the No. 5 seed in the Section 1AA West tournament was looking to stay alive in the elimnation bracket versus No. 2 seed Cannon Falls in Pine Island Thursday, and the Blossoms were able to outslug the Bombers in an 11-7 win.

Blooming Prairie scored four runs in the top of the third inning to break a scoreless tie and take a 4-0 lead, but Cannon Falls came back with a pair of runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to cut BP’s lead to 4-2.  The Blossoms came firing back with two in the fourth, one in the fifth and another four runs in the sixth to boost their lead to 11-2, and even though the Bombers were able to counter with one in the sixth and four in the seventh, their rally fell far short in a loss that eliminated them from the tournament.

Offensively for Bloomnig Prairie, cleanup hitter Lauren Schammel belted out three of the Blossoms’ 15 hits in the game in four trips to the plate, one of those hits being a double with an RBI and a run scored, left fielder Ella Smith was 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored, right fielder Anna Haberman went 2 for 5 with a run scored, pitcher Haven Carlson went 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI’s, Rachel Winzenburg was 1 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored, leadoff hitter Macy Lembke went 1 for 4 with a double and two runs knocked in, Shawntee Snyder was 1 for 3 with a double, a pair of RBI’s and a run scored, catcher Layla Lembke was 1 for 4 with two RBI’s and two runs scored, and first baseman Lexi Steckelberg went 1 for 4 with a pair of walks.

Haven Carlson earned the win in the circle for the Blossoms as she went the distance and gave up the seven Cannon Falls runs, four earned, on eight hits, striking out none and walking two.

The win for Blooming Prairie earned them a rematch with top-seeded Zumbrota/Mazeppa, who fell to No. 2 seed Dover/Eyota 4-2 in the 1AA West final, and a nine-run bottom of the third inning for the Cougars keyed a 14-2, five-inning win.

Zumbrota/Mazeppa burst out of the gate quickly with four runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 4-0 lead.  Blooming Prairie pushed across a run in the top of the second to cut the Cougars’ lead to 4-1, but the Cougars then broke the game open with one run of their own in the bottom of the second and the nine-run third inning for a 14-1 lead.  The Blossoms added a run in the top of the fourth inning to account for the 14-2 final.

Rachel Winzenburg went 1 for 3 with an RBI offensively for Blooming Prairie, while Shawntee Snyder and Anna Haberman both rapped out two hits, with Haberman scoring a run, Macy Lembke went 1 for 3 with a run scored, and Lexi Steckelberg, Haven Carlson and Ella Smith all added hits as well.

Carlson took the loss in the circle for Blooming Prairie by giving up the 14 runs, with three Blossoms errors leading to six of those runs being unearned on 12 hits, striking out three and walking four.

With the loss, Blooming Prairie’s season comes to a close with a record of 13-10.