State Softball Results Wednesday, July 24th
Audubon Vs Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont- Class 2A Semifinals
Audubon 3
Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 2
The Audubon Softball team added another amazing chapter to their history books on Wednesday, winning their third straight postseason game in walk-off fashion, advancing to their first ever State Championship game in their first ever trip to the State Tournament. The Wheelers rallied for 3-runs in the bottom of the 7th, down 2-0 with Michelle Brooks hitting a double down the right field line, scoring Maya King from 3rd base and Addie Hocker from 2nd base to end the game. The Wheelers had two hits through six innings, adding three hits in the bottom 7th with Jordan Porsch starting the inning with a base hit to right field. Audubon struck out only twice in the game, making good contact several times but the Rockets defense kept making play after play. The Wheelers defense and Riley Miller in the circle kept them within striking distance until a team that has no quit, kept their streak of late inning magic alive. The Wheelers earned their trip to state with a walk-off 1-0 win over MVAOCOU in the Regional Final, then beat West Monona 4-3 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday to advance to the semifinals.
The Wheelers had the first-two baserunners in the game with Taryn Petersen singling and Jordan Porsch reaching on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the 1st. Petersen was a force out at 2nd base on the Porsch ground as the Wheelers didn’t get a runner to 2nd base until the 7th inning. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont threatened in the 2nd inning, getting a leadoff walk from Sadie Jager, who moved to 2nd base on a sac bunt. Riley Miller induced a couple pop-outs on the infield to end the threat. The Rockets broke through in the 4th. Miller struck out the side in the 3rd but Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont earned back-to-back hard hit singles with 1-out in the 4th. Aliya Wagamon doubled to score Megan Lobberecht and Sadie Jagar. Taryn Petersen helped end the threat, making a tremendous play on a line drive to short, making the tough catch, then doubling Wagamon off at 2nd base to end the inning. Audubon had made good contact but hadn’t had a hit since Taryn Petersen single in the 1st inning. Michelle Brooks had a double taken away in the 2nd inning with a great defensive play by Molly Shafer at 1st base. Shafer used all of her long frame to dive and get a piece of the line drive, the ball popped out of her glove and she was able to dive and extend to pull the ball in just before it hit the ground for the find out of the inning. Molly Shafer and her twin sister Kate Shafer took away a hit from Jordan Porsch in the 4th inning. Porsch hit a shot between 1st and 2nd. Molly dove to hear left, slowing the ball down enough for Kate to come over and field the ball near the foul line, Molly regained her footing and got the bag as Kate made a strong throw to get a sliding Porsch by inches.
Riley Miller settled back in the circle in the 5th inning, getting the Rockets in order with a strikeout to end the inning, her fifth of the game. Gemini Goodwin led off the 6th inning for Audubon with a single but a sharp hit ball by Mattie Nielsen up the middle turned into a 6U-6-3 double play and the Wheelers lost another chance to cut into the 2-0 deficit. They had collected two hits with four baserunners on base total through six innings. Audubon had not gotten a baserunner past 1st base all game. The Wheelers defense held the Rockets to three batters for the third straight inning in the top of the 7th. That set the stage for another Wheeler magical moment. Jordan Porsch powered an outside pitch to right field for a leadoff single. Riley Miller walked and was run for by Lucy Stanerson. Alexis Obermeier singled to right field, scoring Porsch from 2nd after she advanced on a wild pitch. Audubon had a spark with no-outs and the tying run on base. Stanerson was nearly thrown out at 3rd base on the Obermeier hit but reached base with Maya King coming in to run for Obermeier at 1st base, the Wheelers had runners on the corners with no-outs. King moved to 2nd, putting the winning run in scoring position. Addie Hocker reached on a ground ball to the pitcher as Stanerson was thrown out trying to score on the play. Hocker stole 2nd and King had advanced to 3rd on the ground ball. Michelle Brooks came to bat, looking for her first hit of the game. The senior battled, taking the count to 3-2, having seen six pitches in the at-bat. She drove the seventh pitch down the right field line, scoring King and Hocker to end the game. The Wheeler players mobbed Brooks and their teammates on the field, celebrating their first ever trip to the State Softball Championship game.
Michelle Brooks earned Motor Inn Player of the Game with an 2 RBI double to end the game. Jordan Porsch had a base hit and scored their first run of the game. Alexis Obermeier had a base hit, driving in their first run of the game. Addie Hocker and Maya King both scored a run. Riley Miller earned another postseason win, going 7 innings, allowing 3 hits and 2 earned runs with 6 strikeouts.
The Wheelers improved to 29-4 and will face Van Meter who rallied to beat East Marshall 4-3 in 8 innings. East Marshall led the whole game and was up 3-1 in the bottom of the 6th. Van Meter scored a pair of runs to tie the game, then hit a solo home run in the 8th inning to end the game. The Wheelers game on Friday with start with pregame around 4:30 and first pitch at 5:00 on 93.7 KKRL.
Audubon Stats
Taryn Petersen 1-3
Jordan Porsch 1-3, RS
Riley Miller 2 BB- Pitching WP, 7 IP, 3 Hits, 2 RA, 2 ER, 6 K’s, BB
Alexis Obermeier 1-3, RBI
Maya King 1 RS, SB
Addie Hocker 1 RS, SB
Michelle Brooks 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI
Gemini Goodwin 1-2
Box Score
Teams 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Final
EBF 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
Audubon 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
