State softball: Winona upset in Class AAA quarters, falls to Delano in extras
Jun. 8—NORTH MANKATO — A third consecutive Class AAA state championship appearance won't happen for the Winona Senior High softball team.
The No. 2 seeded Winhawks had plenty of opportunities but couldn't punch through against unseeded Delano, which scored in the eighth and held on for the 2-1 extra innings victory on Thursday at Caswell Park.
The Winhawks (20-3) will now head to the Class AAA consolation to face Academy of Holy Angels at 6 p.m.
Winona took the lead in the fifth after Ava Hamsund drove in Makayla Steffes, who doubled, with an RBI single. Hamsund and Steffes recorded six of the Winhawks' nine hits with both finishing 3-for-4.
Delano (21-3) would tie it in the sixth, taking advantage of a pair of walks and an error in the inning.
It was enough to pull Steffes out of the circle. The senior right-hander allowed one run on two hits with six strikeouts.
Hamsund pitched a clean top of the seventh and the Winhawks responded by putting runners on second and third with one out. But they couldn't get the winning run across. A fly ball to right field wasn't deep enough and a ground ball to third ended the threat.
It gave Delano momentum heading into extras.
The Tigers would have runners on second and third with one out after starting the inning with a single and an error. An intentional walk loaded the bases for Kaitlyn Pink, who delivered with the go-ahead single.
In Winona's half of the eighth, the Winhawks were able to get the tying run to third, but once again left her stranded.
For the game, the Winhawks outhit the Tigers 9-4, but left 10 runners on base.
Link to full box score
