VOLGA The Sioux Valley softball team punched its ticket to the state tournament in dramatic fashion on Tuesday evening as the Cossacks scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat Lennox 12-11 in the Class A SoDak 16.
Sioux Valley came into the final half inning trailing 11-9. McKinley Schwab led off the inning with a double. Savana Guthmiller then launched one to center field and the ball carried over the fence to tie things up. Abby Axtell then hit a one-out single. She advanced to second on a ground out from Ella Jacobsen. Kassidy Smith then came to the plate and she hit it to left center field and Axtell came home to score the winning run.
Sioux Valley head coach Tatum Sonnenburg said her message to her team heading into the final half inning was similar to what she has been preaching all season.
I feel like there were a lot of emotions going through everybodys mind, but one of the things that Ive been telling the girls throughout this year, you have to finish the game, whether its on top or you finish with your best. I knew that they were capable of doing it and I just told them that I was confident in them and was ready for them to do what they needed to do. We just needed to stay in the box and be ready to hit, Sonnenburg said.
It was a tough first inning and a half for the Cossacks as the Orioles led 7-0. Layci Eli and Hailey Seelen hit back-to-back singles in the first with one out for Lennox. Eli then scored on a Madyson Dykstra double and Seelen scored on an error to make it 2-0.
Hayley Hahn and Jersey Zahn led off the second inning with back-to-back singles. Hahn was tagged out but Zahn would score on a Ahleeya Nicola single. Seelen then hit a two-run double and Dykstra followed with a two-run single to make it 7-0.
Sonnenburg said she had to remind her team that there was still a lot of game left and not to get down on themselves.
There was definitely a change of mentality for us because we just came off of our conference tournament this past weekend and played five-inning games there and those went quickly. I reminded them that there was time and we just had to settle in and trust each other. It was definitely a reality check at that point and time, but we had a lot of game left and we were capable of doing a lot more than what we did in the first couple of innings, Sonnenburg said.
Sioux Valley scored three runs in the bottom of the second. Amelia Jacobson hit a single to lead off the inning and Schwab followed with a double. Jacobson scored on a single from Guthmiller and then Schwab came home on a sacrifice fly from Audrey Murano. Axtell then came to the plate and hit it over the left field fence to make it 7-3.
The Cossacks cut into the lead more in the bottom of the third. Zoe Hemmstad hit a one-out single and then Cameron Uecker hit a two-run home run to center field to make it 7-5.
Sioux Valley gained the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Axtell and Jacobsen each walked with one out and then Smith singled to load the bases up. Hemmestad was then walked and Jacobsen scored on a steal of home to tie the game. Jacobson hit a single to send Smith home and give the Cossacks the lead. Schwab then followed with an RBI single of her own to make it 9-7.
Lennox would tie the game in the top of the sixth. Nicola led off with a single and then scored on an Eli single. Eli would then cross the plate on a Aleeah Oltmanns double to even things up at 9-9.
The Orioles would move ahead in the top of the seventh as they scored two runs with two outs. Peyten Wright hit a single and Nicola followed with a walk. Eli then came through with a double to make it 11-9 and force the Cossacks to come back in the bottom of the inning.
The Cossacks had 11 hits. Guthmiller was 1-for-4 with three RBIs and Schwab was 4-for-4 with an RBI. Axtell was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Cameron Uecker was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and Hemestad was 1-for-3 with an RBI. Smith and Jacobson were each 1-for-4 with an RBI.
Schwab pitched a complete game for the Cossacks. She gave up 11 runs, eight earned, on 12 hits with five strikeouts and three walks. Sonnenburg said she thought Schwab and the Sioux Valley defense did a good job of settling in after the tough first two innings.
I think [Schwab] did a good job of settling in and trusting her defense when she did throw pitches that we knew they were going to hit. As a whole we found a rhythm when players came up to bat and knew what they did in the innings before. We were just taking advantage of the spaces that we could. Lennox had a really strong offense and we just had to find the holes that they were giving us and take advantage of those, Sonnenburg said.
Sioux Valley has players on its roster that are as young as seventh grade and have two seniors. In the seventh inning it was Schwab, an eighth grader, Guthmiller, a senior, Axtell, a junior, and Smith, a sophomore, that came through.
Sonnenburg said the different ages throughout her roster is a testament of how hard each individual player works and how theyve come together.
Its been an interesting year to say the least, Sonnenburg said. We started off the year kind of wondering if we were going to have enough players to play and then we called upon some seventh and eighth graders to come up play. If you look at our roster, we have anywhere from seventh to 12th graders filling roles this year.
A lot of those younger girls have played a lot of ball and it shows that they have just as much drive and determination that those seniors do. Going into a State Tournament, I think thats an advantage. Were so young and we have so much room to build and grow, but they have filled those roles quickly and its almost become easy for them.
The Cossacks lost last year in the SoDak 16 and lost their first three games of the season this year. They also had to deal with the death of teammate Raegan Nelson as she passed away in a car accident in September.
Sonnenburg said the loss of Nelson and the way their season ended last year allowed the Cossacks to realize that theres more to the game than the final result.
[Last years SoDak 16 game] replays over and over in our returning coaching staff and also the returners that we had from last years minds, Sonnenburg said. We just had this mentality this year that its about more than just softball and everybody goes through their things. We really have taken that to heart this year with the loss of [Nelson] earlier in the fall season with volleyball and carrying that into the spring season.
Just knowing theres more to this game than what weve done in the past. It feels great to come out on the other side and pull through. We had glimpses of the [SoDak 16] game last year [on Tuesday], but we knew it wasnt going to be easy, so just finishing the game was a great feeling.
Sioux Valley will be the No. 5 seed in the state tournament, which begins on June 5 at the Players Softball Complex in Aberdeen. The Cossacks will play No. 4 seeded Dell Rapids in the quarterfinals.
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