Red-hot Blossoms score three straight wins

From a statistical analysis standpoint, Blooming Prairie softball has been playing is playing its worst defense of the season over its past three game stretch.

Here’s the caveat: the Awesome Blossoms can’t stop winning.

The team has allowed nearly 15 runs per game over its last three matchups, but it has triumphed in every one by scoring 17 times per game on average.

“The trust we’ve built in each other over the course of the season, I’ve really seen us build that up over the past few games,” said Blooming Prairie senior center fielder Madelyn Harvey. “I think we’re just more focused overall. Our bats have really been cooking over this last part of the season. We have to keep that confidence and focus.”

Blooming Prairie’s three-game heater has included wins over JWP, Bethlehem Academy and Kenyon-Wanamingo, and has also doubled the team’s wins on the season from three to six.

The catalyst was a gigantic comeback performance against the Bulldogs (then 12-7) at home where the team overcame an 11-5 deficit after two innings.

JWP jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the top of the first, but Blooming Prairie responded by scoring three times in the bottom half on RBI singles from Neila Nelson and Gracelyn Anderson, aided by an error on the Bulldogs’ defense that scored another run.

However, JWP managed to take a sizeable lead by scoring eight times in the top of the second courtesy of five walks and three Blooming Prairie errors.

Blooming Prairie answered with RBIs from Harvey and Bangert to cut the lead to six, but still faced an uphill battle with plenty of innings left to play.

JWP scored once in the third and twice in the fourth to lead 14-5 before the Awesome Blossoms began to heat up at the plate again.

Despite dropping two quick outs to begin the bottom of the fourth, Blooming Prairie chained together three singles, a double and a base reached on error to score four times and cut the lead to 13-9.

The Bulldogs’ first scoreless inning came in the fifth and left the door wide open for the home squad to mount a comeback.

Blooming Prairie took full advantage by rattling off four more runs on three singles, three walks and one base reached on error to tie the game at 13-13.

JWP’s offense limped out of the final two innings of regulation without scoring a run, but some stellar defense by the Bulldogs also kept Blooming Prairie off the score board to force extra innings.

The visitors scored once in the top of the eighth, but it was not enough as the Awesome Blossoms rallied for two runs to win the game 15-14.

The trio of Bangert (lead-off double), Anderson (walk), and Ellie Stoen (two-RBI, game-winning double) were the heroes for their team in the bottom of the eighth.

“The message was, ‘We’re going to score runs on these guys. We just have to find a way to slow them down defensively,’” said Blooming Prairie head coach Cam Rutledge. “We just kept scoring runs after runs, and the girls never gave up. They believed in themselves and got to that point where they won the game in extra innings.”

The team’s final two wins of the week came via a 12-10 game over Bethlehem Academy and a 26-20 thriller against Kenyon-Wanamingo.

Against Bethlehem Academy, Blooming Prairie led 8-0 through the end of the first inning before a near-collapse on defense allowed the Cardinals to come storming back.

First-inning highlights against Bethlehem Academy included RBI singles from Aubree Johnson, and Anderson, an RBI triple by Isabella Schiller and an error on a ball hit by Bangert to left field that scored two runners.

The Awesome Blossoms added three runs in the bottom of the third on a second pair of RBI singles from Anderson and Schiller to take an 11-0 lead.

The early advantage played turned into a necessity down the stretch as the Cardinals went on to outscore the Awesome Blossoms 10-1 from the fourth inning onward, ending the game with a two-run differential as opposed to the mercy-rule finish that the home fans initially expected.

The next day, Blooming Prairie traveled to Kenyon where the team found itself in a complete dog fight over the course of seven innings.

Kenyon-Wanamingo built a 10-5 lead through three innings, but a four-run fourth for the Awesome Blossoms kept the game well within reach.

The team’s first lead since going up 5-4 after 1.5 innings of play came in the fifth when Blooming Prairie exploded for five runs.

A trio of RBI singles for Annika Schwarck, Raylee Miner and Johnson, as well as a double by Bangert and a run scored due to a Kenyon-Wanamingo error led to the Awesome Blossoms taking a 14-10 lead.

The momentum was short-lived as the Knights recouped all of their runs in the bottom half of the inning with a five-run spree to regain the lead at 15-14.

Blooming Prairie tied the game in the sixth on an RBI single from Schwarck, but Kenyon-Wanamingo blew the game wide open at 20-15 with another five-run half in the bottom of the sixth.

With its back against the wall, Blooming Prairie had its performance of the season, scoring 11 runs on six hits, two walks and four Kenyon-Wanamingo errors to retake the lead at 16-20.

The dream rally came via three fielding errors in the first four at-bats for the Awesome Blossoms, giving the visitors a bases-loaded situation with just one out.

A walk for Anderson scored the first run before Schiller, Schwarck, Miner, Natalie Winzenburg and Nelson all went to work with five consecutive singles to score four more runs.

The final scoring sequence came on an error for Schiller, an RBI single by Bangert and an RBI fielder’s choice for Anderson to give Blooming Prairie its 26-20 edge.

The revigorated Awesome Blossom closed out the game with a strikeout, ground out and fly out to earn the win.