Late-inning rally lifts Castlewood past Scotland/Menno in Class B softball semis
May 31—ABERDEEN — Top-seeded Castlewood used a big sixth inning to overcome No. 5 Scotland/Menno's upset bid in the Class B state softball semifinals on Friday afternoon.
Trailing the Trappers 2-1 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Warriors tacked on four runs in the inning to retake the lead, then held on for a 5-3 win.
Castlewood (17-4) moves on to the state championship game at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, while Scotland/Menno (13-5) will play in the third-place game at 3 p.m.
The result came despite another strong pitching outing from Scotland/Menno's Olivia Binde. A day after tossing a complete game in a win over Gayville-Volin, Binde threw six innings in the circle for the Trappers, allowing nine hits and one run through the first five innings.
Countering Binde was the Warriors' Claire Horn, who picked up the win by pitching seven innings, allowing seven hits and striking out seven.
The Trappers' offense did find some success against Horn, including in the fourth inning, when Trinity Bietz slapped a lead-off triple and was later driven in to tie the score. In the top of the sixth, Binde reached home on an error to take the lead.
But in the bottom of the sixth, Castlewood cashed in big. After loading the bases with two singles and a walk, the Warriors scored on a wild pitch, followed by an RBI single by Horn, a second error, and a sacrifice fly from Sophia Kudrna to take a three-run lead. Binde's RBI single in the seventh cut the lead to two, but Horn struck out the Trappers late to win the game.
Binde finished with two hits for the Trappers, while Robb had a hit and an RBI and Amanda Rames and Bietz each had a hit and a run. Lilly Jacobson and Horn each had two hits for Castlewood.
