WHS softball season ends in Section 2AAA tournament

May 23—MANKATO — The Worthington High School softball team's season came to an end Wednesday in the Section 2AAA playoffs after two hard-fought games at Caswell Park in Mankato.

The Trojans entered the section tournament as the No. 7 seed. Their first game of the evening came against No. 4 seed Marshall and they lost 4-2.

The loss put the Trojans into a matchup with No. 5 seed St. Peter, which they lost 8-2.

Here is a recap of both games.

Marshall 4, Worthington 2

Two runs in the final two innings is what made the difference for the Marshall Tigers in their win over the Trojans.

The Trojans were held to just one hit, but it was a big one, as it scored both of their runs.

In the top of the first inning, Marshall starting pitcher Harley Beek struck out the side in a 1-2-3 effort. Those three strikeouts would be the first of 11 in the game for her.

The Marshall bats took over in the bottom of the first with runners initially on first and third. After a pop out to advance a runner to second, Hayda Bednarik singled to score both Brielle Reiss and Beek for a 2-0 Tigers lead.

WHS would answer with its two runs in the top of the third. With one out, back-to-back walks were drawn from senior third baseman Abby Linder and junior pitcher Bailey Ponto.

Senior second baseman Marin Pederson then hit into a fielder's choice that forced Linder out at third.

With runners on first and second, junior shortstop Hannah McNab stepped up and smacked Worthington's lone hit, a 2-RBI triple to right field to tie the game.

A scoreless fourth inning sent the game into the bottom of the fifth still tied before Marshall would regain the lead.

With one out, the Tigers proceeded to load the bases on a Trojan error, a single and then a walk. Beek then hit an RBI sacrifice fly to center field which scored Naya Grahn and made it a 3-2 game.

Marshall tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth after Bednarik scored on a wild pitch. That proved to be the game's final run.

Ponto, Linder and eighth-grader Emma Heitbrink each walked for WHS. Ponto also pitched well, going all six innings with only two earned runs given up and four strikeouts. The WHS defense committed three errors.

Marshall totaled four hits with Reiss collecting two of them. The Tigers (16-4) moved on to defeat Albert Lea 4-0 in the next round and they are now one win away from advancing to the final four of the bracket.

Worthington 002 000 0 — 2

Marshall 200 011 x — 4

St. Peter 8, Worthington 2

A balanced offensive attack from the St. Peter Saints led to their 8-2 win over the Trojans in the elimination bracket.

The Saints (12-9) were defeated by No. 6 seed Albert Lea 7-1 before responding with the win over WHS. That win set up a rematch with Albert Lea on Thursday for the right to face Marshall and keep its season alive.

The Trojans scored first though in the top of the first. Ponto led off the inning and reached first base on an error and then Pederson grounded out to put her in scoring position.

Ponto then stole third base before McNab hit an RBI single to score her and give WHS a 1-0 lead.

The Saints immediately responded in the bottom of the first. Cali Cross opened the inning with a double before she scored on a double in the next at bat from Nora Whipps. Piper Winters then scored Winters with an RBI single to give St. Peter the lead at 2-1.

The Trojan defense then got three consecutive outs to limit the scoring damage.

St. Peter scored twice more in the bottom of the second. The scoring in that inning started quickly when Lilian Filand led off with a solo home run to left field.

After a one-out single, Cross got her second hit of the game with an RBI to make the score 4-1 in favor of the Saints.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Saints loaded the bases off a Trojan error and two singles when, with two outs, Filand reached base on another error that also scored two more runs to give St. Peter a 6-1 advantage.

The lead was stretched to 8-1 in the sixth inning when Auden Anderson singled before two runs scored on an error during the play.

The Trojans finally scored their second run of the game in the top of the seventh inning. Linder led off with a walk before the Saints got two-straight outs.

McNab then came to the plate and hit a pop fly and eventually reached second base on a Saints error. That play wound up scoring Linder in what was the final run of the game.

Senior catcher Maddie Petersen then grounded out to first for the final out of the game, and the Trojans' season.

The Saints totaled 12 hits in the game with four players getting two each. Devyn Welp pitched for them and struck out 10 with no earned runs.

The Trojan bats got four hits in total with one each coming from Ponto, Pederson, McNab and eighth-grade center fielder Breeta Johnson. Johnson also walked once and Linder walked twice.

Ponto again pitched for WHS and gave up four earned runs.

Worthington ends its season with a 4-17 overall record, an improvement over its 1-21 record the previous season. They also scored way more runs this season with 110 compared to 64 last season.

Worthington 100 000 1 — 2

St. Peter 220 022 x — 8