By Staff
MOUNDRIDGE – The 2023 season came to an end on Wednesday for the Moundridge softball team as they lost an 8-3 decision to Hillsboro in the championship game of their Class 2-1A regional.
With the loss the Lady Wildcats close out the 2023 season at 14-8 while Hillsboro advances to the 2023 Class 2-1A state tournament beginning next Thursday.
After Hillsboro took an early 4-1 lead in the first inning, they added two more runs in the second before the Lady Wildcats put two in the scorebook in the third to pull within three at 6-3. Hillsboro then added two more runs in the fourth and held on to gain the final five-run victory over Moundridge.
“We got off to a rough start with some missed balls and throwing errors,” noted Lady Wildcat head coach Lynn Eichelberger. “We never recovered from those. After giving up four runs in that first inning we did settle down and began to play better. Hillsboro was better than their record as they play in a larger school league.”
Addy Falco had two of the Lady Wildcats four hits with one being a double. Reese Schmidt and Aubree Durst had the other two team hits.
Emily Durst pitched for the Lady Wildcats and threw 124 pitches, giving up 10 hits, six earned runs and four walks while striking out three.
Coach Eichelberger talked about the season when he concluded his post-game reflections by saying, “The graduating seniors have played a lot of softball over their high school careers, and we (especially me) will miss them. Five of them have been starters from the day they stepped on the field. They set a lot of school records even though they missed their freshman season due to the pandemic. They ended their three years of softball winning 47 games and only losing 20. That is a credit to their dedication and work ethic.”
MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCAT SOFTBALL vs. Hillsboro at Class 2-1A Regionals
Scoring: Hillsboro > 4-2-0-2-0-0-0 = 8-10-2; MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS > 1-0-2-0-0-0-0 = 3-4-3.
MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS HITTING: Emily Durst > 4-0-0-0-0; Kindall Elmore > 1-2-0-0-3; Addy Falco > 4-0-2-1-0; Reese Schmidt > 3-0-1-0-0; Avery Rice > 0-0-0-0-0; Sam Strausz > 3-0-0-0-0; Maggie Adolf > 3-0-0-0-0; Macy Kaminkow > 3-0-0-0-0; Hannah Schrag > 1-0-0-0-0; Macie Woltje > 1-0-0-0-0; Lela Winsor > 0-0-0-0-1; Aubree Durst > 3-1-1-0-0. Team Totals > 26-3-4-1-4. 2B (1) > Falco – 1. SB (4) > Elmore, A. Durst – 2.
MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS PITCHING: Emily Durst > 7.0-124-10-8-6-4-3.
Hillsboro Hitting > 30-8-10-7-4, 1-2B. Hillsboro Pitching > 7.0-107-4-3-2-4-9.
(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)