SOFTBALL: Late rally not enough to lift Trojans past Saydel

Saydel eliminates Atlantic in opening-round playoff game with wild 15-13 victory

By Drew Herron - NT Sports Editor / 

July 9, 2013

ATLANTIC – More than a couple times, Saydel sophomore pitcher Annika Hofbauer was within one strike of ending a disastrous seventh inning for the Eagles in Tuesday’s opening-round playoff game in Atlantic.

Prior to the top of the seventh, reports had hit the field in Atlantic that Bondurant-Farrar had defeated ADM 6-0 about 75 miles to the east, setting up a likely Regional Semifinal between Saydel and B-F on the Lady Jays’ home field Friday.

At that moment, Saydel held a 13-5 lead, and stood just three outs from filling out the other side of that bracket.

Perhaps Saydel started looking ahead, or the Trojans simply would not agree to go quietly. Whatever the reasons, the flow of the game was about to be unsettled.

Atlantic pieced together a flurry of activity on the base paths and plated eight runs, mostly with a two-out rally, to level the game at 13-13 after seven innings. What once felt like a formality of a final three outs sprung for an extra inning.

In the eighth however, Atlantic could not answer Saydel’s two runs in the top half of the frame, and the Trojans lost 15-13 to bow out of the playoffs in the opening round.

“We made too many mistakes early and gave them opportunities in which they took advantage of,” Trojans coach Hinzmann said.

Saydel (15 runs on 16 hits) made solid contact all night long at the plate, and while the Trojans finished with 13 runs on 14 hits, it was 13 stranded base runners and five errors that might have proved to be a lethal combination.

Atlantic left the bases juiced in the first and second innings, and chased the entire way.

“I look out at the scoreboard and see that we made five errors, and they made one,” coach Hinzmann said. “That’s the difference right there. You cannot make five errors and expect to win a ballgame.”

Hofbauer pitched the entire way for Saydel, and she was matched by Atlantic’s Tori Bruck, as both hurlers went the distance. Between the two sides, 30 hits were hammered out Tuesday night.

Atlantic finishes the 2012 season with an 18-22 final record and went 8-10 in the Hawkeye 10 Conference, finishing sixth.

Saydel improves to 17-17 on the season, and will face 24-12 Bondurant-Farrar on Friday night in second-round action. Bondurant-Farrar is ranked No. 5 in Class 3A according to the final ratings released Monday by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

The Trojans, however, will turn in their uniforms and bid farewell to a pair of seniors in ReAnn Cappel and Mackenzie Holmes, the team’s top two hitters and a pair of five-year veterans.

It’s going to be an emotional process as the program turns the page.

“Softball is a strange sport in that we see each other every day,” coach Hinzmann said. “There is a certain sense of loss and camaraderie and what am I going to do tomorrow? Take care of the seniors now, but tomorrow the 2014 season begins.”

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