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Badger softball finishes strong in league
and district play
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May 13, 2014 |
by Lauren Bartoe
Let's go back in time to Friday, April 25. The
Badgers hosted the visiting Troy Trojans for
Senior Night. All three seniors: MaKenzie Carle,
Brianna Reasoner and Arista Winey were honored
as well as the foreign exchange students Ale,
Mint and Jin in addition to three seniors from
Troy.
The Badgers had a standout performance with
freshman Nicole Donn going 2 for 5 with a
homerun, freshman Avery Lane going 3 for 4,
Gabby Blackmore and Carle
 going 2 for 4, and
Reasoner picking up 3 walks to score 3 runs.
Carle earned the 24-4 win with 5 strikeouts and
allowing only 4 hits.
Due to rainouts earlier in the week, the JV Team
played the nightcap Friday night against Kellogg
JV, hanging on for an 11-9 win. Junior Zoe
Zielinski stepped behind the plate to catch and
went 2 for 2 with a triple and a homerun. Junior
Chloe Copley accumulated 3 strikeouts for the
win.
Monday the ladies traveled to Priest River for
league play, falling in a hard fought battle
that in the 6th inning was still 0-3. Senior
Brianna Reasoner stood out going 2 for 3 with a
walk, but the Badgers remained scoreless.
Despite MaKenzie Carle's efforts of seven
strikeouts, Priest River connected with the ball
in the bottom of the 6th, scoring four more runs
for a final score of 0-7.
Tuesday took the Badgers to Timberlake for a
heartbreaking 5-6 loss. Zielinski went 2 for 3
while Reasoner and Copley added hits in the
loss.
The final regular season games were played in
Kellogg on Thursday, May 1 with a doubleheader.
The first game saw Donn go 2 for 3 with hits
added by Gabby Blackmore and Chloe Copley.
Kellogg proved too strong with the bats in the
first game, handing the Badgers a 6-11 loss. But
in the second game, the final league game,
Bonners Ferry put everything together. With hits
coming from Copley, Blackmore, Donn, Zielinski
and Avery Lane, the Badgers put 9 runs on the
board. MaKenzie Carle sat down 5 with excellent
defense behind her and held Kellogg to 2, with a
final score of 9-2 and the first league win of
the season coming in the final game.
Next came District play against #1 seeded
Timberlake on Tuesday May 6th. Nicole Donn led
the offense going 2 for 3 backed up by a triple
from Gabby Blackmore and hits from Reasoner and
DP Serenity Winey, but it wasn't enough to
conquer the hard-hitting Tigers who tallied 7
runs in the second inning alone. The final score
was 4-15 after 5 innings and a disappointing
start to playoffs for the Badgers.
Bonners Ferry didn't give up though, and came
back fighting on Wednesday to face #3 seeded
Kellogg whose pitcher struggled, giving up 14
walks by the end of the game. The Badgers took
advantage of the walks, adding 2 hits from
Blackmore, and one each from Zielinski and
Serenity Winey. Kellogg wasn't asleep though,
adding 11 hits on their side, keeping the game
nail-bitingly close. At the close of seven
innings, the Badgers came out on top, 11-10 with
their first District win and a chance to return
the following day to battle Priest River.
History was in the making on Thursday as Bonners
took on #2 seeded Priest River. Priest River
started the scoring with three runs in the
bottom of the second, but the top of the third
saw the Badgers bats come alive like never
before. With a
 combination of hits, walks and
errors, Bonners sent five runs across the plate,
adding two more in the top of the 5th. Priest
River put up three more in the bottom of the
5th, totaling a score of 7-6 Bonners at the
start of the 6th. Bonners kept up the rally
adding 3 runs off of four hits from Reasoner,
Donn, Blackmore and Carle setting them up with a
seemingly comfortable 10-6 lead.
Priest River came into the meat of their batting
order and Donn was asked to step in on the
mound. Allowing a single and a homerun
unfortunately pushed Priest River back into the
game and Carle relieved Donn and worked for
three outs. The game was tied 10-10 at the end
of seven innings. Tie-breaker rules put a runner
on second base at the start of the 8th inning so
Brianna Reasoner took second. Copley got a
single, followed by a double from Donn which
knocked in the first two runs. Blackmore flew
out to right field and Carle flew out to
pitcher. Donn stole home getting the 3rd run in
and then Zielinski flew out to center field.
The Badgers had a 3 run lead, but Priest River
also got to start a runner on second base. The
first batter flew out to left field, the next
batter got a hit, then a popup to the catcher
got the second out, and a base hit knocked in
Priest Rivers lone run. A long fly ball to
center field, caught by Zielinski ended the
game, giving Bonners Ferry their first ever
District Trophy - Second Place!
They earned the right to a play-in game for the
State Championship which was played in Lewiston
Saturday against Buhl. Unfortunately, the magic
ended there as the Badgers fell 0-12 in five
innings.
Congratulations to the entire Badger Softball
Team and their perseverance throughout the year.
Voted to the all-league team this year were
Seniors MaKenzie Carle and Brianna Reasoner. We
are proud of you and all your hard work and
dedication to the program the past four years.
You will be missed. |
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