MELROSE — Routine plays don’t exist in softball, and that’s regardless of level.
So when Augusta High School left fielder Stella Zank hit a ground ball to Melrose-Mindoro shortstop Cooper Zeman amid a seventh-inning rally, nothing could be assumed.
The Mustangs had surrendered three runs on three errors and a single and had watched a six-run lead cut in half as the ball bounced toward Zeman, who gave Melrose-Mindoro immediate hope by fielding it cleanly.
A toss to second baseman Bella Rozek got the lead runner, and Rozek’s relay to first baseman Opal Buchanan retired Zank to clear the bases with one out left to record. The double play eliminated any anxiety, and another infield grounder produced the final out in the Mustangs’ 7-4 win over the visiting Beavers in a WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal Monday.
“That was pretty,” Melrose-Mindoro coach Lindsay Rozek said of the double play. “I told the girls that’s what I call a sail knockout.
“They knocked the wind out of their sail with the double play, and those are the plays we have to trust that we can make in those situations.”
The win is the top-seeded Mustangs’ sixth in a row since a 4-3 loss to Augusta on the same field three weeks ago. It also moves their record to 21-3 and continues a historic season that included the program’s first regional championship.
Melrose-Mindoro is one win away from become a first-time state qualifier and plays either Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (19-4) or Stevens Point Pacelli (25-1) at Necedah on Thursday. The Royals and Cardinals match up on Tuesday to determine which of those teams qualifies.
Rozek said preparation for that game would be the same for the team’s first sectional semifinal, and the end result of that just what they wanted.
Bella Rozek packed a wallop at the plate and provided nothing but good at-bats on a night her team needed them.
The sophomore erased any of her team’s initial nerves by blasting a first-inning home run and provided separation when Augusta hung around with a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth. She added a sacrifice fly in the sixth during a 2-for-4 performance that included six runs driven in.
The first-inning home run followed Hailey Hiles being hit by a pitch as the leadoff batter, and Zeman following that with a double to right field. Rozek blasted the ninth pitch of her at-bat over the fence in center field for an immediate lead.
“There were a lot of nerves, I think, but we went in trying to treat it like just another game,” Bella Rozek said. “I think (the home run) showed us that we could win and made us believe in ourselves a little more.”
Senior pitcher Emma Severson held the Beavers to one run through the first six innings and retired the side in order in the sixth. Augusta scored its first run in the third and loaded the bases before Severson coaxed a ground ball to Zeman to end the inning.
Severson struck out three, walked to and allowed one earned run on six hits.
Bella Rozek’s best swing may have come in the fourth, which was a on a 1-0 offering and was blasted to center field to score Hiles and Zeman again, this time for a 6-1 lead.
“That double felt really nice,” Bella Rozek said. “It felt like a game-changer for us, and I could see the attitudes pop back up.”
Right fielder Lauralee Stanton was also 2 for 3 with a double for the Mustangs, who have won 10 of their past 11 games.
