Boone Central/Newman Grove took 3rd place in the 2018 Mid-State Conference softball tournament, held Saturday at the Albion Sports Complex.
BC/NG, seeded #3, opened the tourney against #2 Guardian Angels CC (18-6), dropping a 14-2 decision to the Bluejays.
GACC was hot at the plate, no matter which Cardinal pitcher took the mound. The Jays tallied six run in the second inning to lead 9-1 and finished the victory with a five-run fourth.
Boone Central/Newman Grove (18-10) bounced back to shellack the Pierce Bluejays (4-21) 18-5 in consolation play.
Pierce matched a strong Card start, trailing by just one run, 6-5, through two innings. BC/NG gained some breathing room with a five-run third, sparked by Leighann MIller’s RBI base hit and two Bluejay errors. The Cardinals finished the rout in the fourth, scoring an additional seven runs without recording an out. Miller had another RBI single and Claire Choat provided the final highlight – a grand slam with Stepahnie Wright, Lauren Hedlund and Groeteke on base.
BC/NG finished with a thrilling 7-6 win over O’Neill. Choat again had the capper for the Cardinals – in even more dramatic fashion. With the teams knotted at 6-6 following a three-run O’Neill rally in the top of the sixth inning, BC/NG loaded the bases on one-out walks by Wright and Hedlund, and a single by Groeteke. Choat followed with the walk-off base hit to give Boone Central/Newman Grove 3rd place honors.
Further details in Print & Online editions of Albion News
