The Austin Roadblock

This season marked the fifth straight year Chatfield softball made the Section Final Four in Austin. The Gophers task was a high one; win four games over two days.  It’s the fifth straight year their season ends in Austin.   Chatfield (1AA East Runner Up, 18-3) got one win, beating Byron (1AA West Runner-Up, 15-7) in the loser out game.   The contest was scoreless for six innings.  Byron recorded just two base runners.  In Chatfield’s seventh, Abby Nosbisch’s two-run single broke the seal.  A Bear error allowed two more runs to score.  Lexi Chase’s RBI-double capped the scoring.  Chase then took the mound and finished it up.  Chatfield prevailed 5-0, as Chase pitched another 1-hitter (7 IP, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K, Win, 2-4, RBI).  Nosbisch (1-3, 2 RBI), Teagan Allen (1-3), McKenna Daniels (1-3), Belle Berg, and Kielan LaPlante each scored a run.  The Gophers then turned around and faced Rochester-Lourdes (1AA West Champion, 20-3) for a spot in the section title game.  And like last year, where Chatfield fell to R-L (in the “chair” game), the Eagles were the better team.  After three scoreless innings, Lourdes used just one sure-fire hit (Ashley Krom 2-run double) to plate four runs.  An inning later, Lourdes plated three more (Katie Virgin 2-run home run).  In the sixth, Alyssa Ustby, who’d started both the fourth and fifth inning rallies, hammered a three run home run.  Rains then came.  The game was called, completed after five.  And thus the final was Lourdes 7, Chatfield 0.  The Gophers managed just two hits off Abbey Gapinski.  They had as many as five errors.  Another excellent campaign concludes at 19-4.  Chatfield only has one senior, starting second base Britney Fretland.  Chase (98 1/3 IP, 38 H, 16 R, 4 ER, 185 Ks, 8 BBs, 14-2 record) finishes a fantastic season, albeit in a tough way.  Cotter, which beat Lourdes to earn the chair, then beat the Eagles again for the Section title.  The Ramblers (20-4) are the 2018 1AA champions, doing so with three 1-run play-off wins.