The West Fork softball team used a late rally Friday night to defeat Grundy Center 6-5 in a Class 2A regional semifinal in Clarksville.
Playing as the road team, the Warhawks trailed 5-0 entering the top of the seventh inning. Preslee Dickman began the rally with a leadoff single, and with the bases loaded a few batters later, two runs would score after a Grundy Center error on a Brylee Dickman hit to second base. Later in the inning, JoAnna Wallace hit a two-run single to make it 5-4 Spartans. Facing a 1-2 count with two outs in the seventh, Preslee Dickman hit a two-run single up the middle to give West Fork a 6-5 lead as the Warhawks advanced to the regional final. Warhawk head coach Sadie Winfrey on her team’s confidence heading into the top of the seventh inning.
*Winfrey 7-13 #1
“Yeah, when we came in, I kind of, I actually told them that, you know, the team that they had just played before scored six runs against them, Alburnett, it wasn’t enough for them to win, but if we were to do the exact same thing and score six that we could win and all it takes is everybody having that mentality and doing their job when they get to the plate and they did just that.”
Libby Trewin pitched seven innings and registered nine strikeouts and allowed just one earned run in the Warhawk win.
West Fork will face Hudson Monday night in the regional final with a trip to the state tournament on the line. Hudson is coming off a 7-3 win over Dike-New Hartford Friday night in their regional semifinal and has three players batting over .400 on the season. Winfrey feels confident her team will be ready for the challenge Monday night.
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“They’re going to be able to score runs. I have a lot of confidence in our junior pitcher and I have a lot of confidence in our defense behind her. So as long as we’re able to get on the bats as well, I think it’ll be a good game.”
The game will start at 7:00 p.m. and will air on 104.9 KLMJ with pregame coverage beginning at 6:40.
