ROCHESTER — Three singles, two walks and an error put the Caledonia High School softball team in a bad place Monday afternoon.
Those at-bats by third-seeded Cotter/Hope Lutheran gave it a five-run lead in the top of the first inning against the top-seeded Warriors at the Rochester Youth Softball Complex.
The explosion gave the Ramblers a lead until the bottom of the fifth inning, and that’s when Caledonia scored five runs of its own and rode the momentum to a 12-5 victory in an MSHSL Section 1AA semifinal.
“We never really panicked,” Caledonia coach Chad Augedahl said. “We have all the stuff we need, and we knew we could get the runs back.”
The Warriors (25-2) are now one win away from a spot in the state tournament and will play Cotter again at 4 p.m. Wednesday on Field 1 of the same complex. The Ramblers, who beat Chatfield 10-6 to advance, will have to beat Caledonia twice — a second game, if necessary, will be played at 6 p.m. — to steal the spot in the state bracket.
The Warriors trailed 5-3 when beginning their fifth-inning at-bats. After the first out was recorded, pitcher Avery Augedahl was hit by a pitch, and first baseman Elsa Blum drew a walk.
Center fielder Ashlyn Reinhart tied the game on a double to center field, then gave Caledonia its first lead when she scored on an infield single by left fielder Nora Staggemeyer.
Shortstop Lily Wiebke later doubled to center to bring home second baseman Vivian Kittleson for an 8-5 lead.
Caledonia added four more runs in the bottom of the sixth to stretch the lead.
Reinhart was 3 for 4 with three doubles and drove in four runs. Lily Augedahl was 2 for 3 with the double and RBI.
“One hit just led to another,” Chad Augedahl said. “They knew (entering the fifth inning) that they needed nine outs to put the game away, and we did exactly what we were supposed to do.”
Staggemeyer was 2 for 4 with three runs driven in, and Kittleson singled, doubled and drove in two runs. Wiebke also drove in two runs, and Avery Augedahl scored three runs for the Warriors.
Avery Augedahl pitched a complete game, and three of Cotter’s five runs were earned. She struck out 10, walked two, allowed four hits — one after the first inning — and retired the final 18 batters in order.
“Avery is never too high and never too low,” Chad Augedahl said. “She went out there and said, ‘I got this, you just sit there and call pitches from your bucket.'”
As for a fourth meeting with the Ramblers, the Warriors will not enter the game expecting to lean on their cushion of Cotter having to beat them twice to advance.
“It will come down to execution and execution only,” Chad Augedahl said. “(Coach) Pat Bowlin (whose teams have won more than 800 games) is on the other side, and we are going to have to play as hard as we can.
“We are going to play one and win.”
