(Ft. Dodge, IA) — Next day, next game. Tonight the Audubon Wheelers softball team will make their case for the 2A state championship game as they battle the upset minded Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont Rockets, first pitch at 5:15 pm, coverage on 96.5 FM KSOM.
Seven seeded Eddyville upset the 2 seed Northeast in the first round 6-1. Freshman Lanie Batterson allowed just 1 unearned run on 3 hits, walked 1 and struck out 1. Five different players drove in runs for the Rockets highlighted by Junior Kate Schafer who went 2-4 with 2 doubles, an RBI and 2 runs scored. Eddyville had a 3-1 lead when they scored 3 runs in the 5th to build a 5 run lead that would stand.
Batterson has been the workhorse all year for the Rockets, with 35 games pitched, 30 starts, going 21-11 with a 3.34 ERA. In 203 innings, she has 128 strikeouts but also has 102 walks. Eddyville’s strength is their offense — Senior Megan Lobberecht is hitting .466 with 7 HR and 43 RBI. Schafer is batting an incredible .523, 3, 31. The Rockets have 93 extra base hits on the season including 62 doubles compared to 58 extra base knocks for Audubon.
In the regional tournament, Eddyville topped Van Buren 11-1; then upset #4 ranked Cardinal 4-0 as Batterson threw a 1 hit shutout. They then dispatched Pleasantville 3-2 in the regional final before their upset over Northeast in Ft. Dodge. Eddyville only finished in 6th place in the South Central Conference with a 6-8 mark behind Cardinal, Chariton, Albia, Knoxville, and Centerville. Yet, they are in the state tournament for the first time since 2017 and just the 4th time in school history.
For Audubon, they will also send a freshman pitcher into the circle as Riley Miller continued her dominance in the first round victory over West Monona. Miller allowed just 4 hits against the Spartans, only one of which made it to the outfield. She retired the first 9 batters she faced with 5 strikeouts. She had just 1 strikeout the rest of the game but the defense made some solid plays behind her. SS Taryn Peterson had a great over the shoulder catch to steal away a hit and LF Anna Larsen made a great running catch deep down the line to take away an extra base hit.
Every player in the Wheeler batting order reached base in the first round victory over the Spartans. It was Miller’s drive to the right center gap in the bottom of the 7th to walk off the victory scoring Mattie Nielsen from first base. Audubon is now 8-1 in one run games this season; the only loss to Missouri Valley back in May.
# 3 Seed Audubon (28-4) battles #7 seed Eddyvile (23-13) in the 2A semifinals, first pitch at 5:15, coverage on 96.5 FM KSOM and westerniowatoday.com.
