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Badger softball finishes strong in league and district play

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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