Bolts win first playoff game, then end season with loss to CR-B

BAXTER — Baxter softball coach Crystal Bruntz was unsure of what her lineup would like about an hour before the Bolts hosted Audubon for a first-round Class 1A playoff game on July 1.

Already without starters, junior Sydney Schmidt had been battling strep throat the past few days.

Schmidt showed up at the ball field at 5:30 p.m. and it wasn’t until around 6 p.m. that she told the coaching staff she would be able to play.

Not at 100 percent, Schmidt still had enough to drive in two runs at the plate and pitch the Bolts to a 6-5 victory over the Wheelers during 1A Region 7 action.

Baxter led 3-0 through four innings, lost the lead in the fifth before rallying with a pair of late runs in the sixth.

“That was fun. It was good game and it was good to fight back after losing the lead,” Bruntz said. “We knew we could come back and win. We weren’t too worried about it. We just let them play.”

The Bolts did not have sophomore Amber Weltha because of a volleyball tournament in Florida.

Sophomore Caitlyn Bruntz continued to sit out with an injured ankle she suffered in the Newton tournament earlier this season.

Schmidt fought off her illness and put together a solid performance both in the circle and at the plate.

“I have had a rough time lately,” Schmidt said.

“I think I hung in there pretty well and did the best I could, and the defense backed me up. That helped a lot.”

The Bolts moved to 13-12 after the win and hosted Coon Rapids-Bayard in a regional quarterfinal on July 2. Audubon retires at 8-18.

Coon Rapids-Bayard (16-11) defeated Orient-Macksburg 6-1 in its regional first-round game. The Crusaders eliminated Baxter 9-4 and then lost to No. 2 Collins-Maxwell, 4-0, in the regional semifinals.

The Bolts went three up, three down in the first inning but cracked the scoreboard in the second.

Senior Jordynn Wesselink started the inning with a single. She went to third after consecutive stolen bases. Wesselink jogged home on Schmidt’s RBI single between shortstop and third base.

Schmidt’s RBI single in the third went to the exact same spot on the field and put Baxter up 3-0.

“We worked on gap hitting yesterday at practice,” Schmidt said. “I just looked ahead of time at what they gave me and took the ball to the open spot.”

Before Schmidt’s RBI single in the third, sophomore Holly Jessen began the frame with a single and then stole second base. Freshman Maddie Pierce reached on an infield single. Jessen then scored on a wild pitch before Pierce was plated on Schmidt’s second RBI hit.

Baxter went in order in the fourth and took a 3-0 lead to the bottom of the inning.

That’s when Audubon got on the board and took the lead. The Wheelers scored four runs on three hits and were helped by consecutive Baxter errors and a Schmidt walk. One of the hits was an infield single, but it was enough to keep the frame alive.

The inning ended after Schmidt induced a ground ball back to the circle and a ground ball to shortstop. Audubon grounded out 12 times in the game.

“We had too many errors. And those hits weren’t hard hit balls. It was a lot of bad luck,” Coach Bruntz said.

The Bolts came right back in the fifth and tied up the game at 4-all. Jessen led off the inning with a double down the third-base line. She took third on a Wheeler error and then scored on an RBI groundout by Pierce.

Audubon starting pitcher Gracye Albertson got out of the inning when she got Wesselink to line into a double play, but the damage was done.

“The pitch that I hit the double on was inside, so I just waited on it and tried to keep it fair,” said Jessen, who was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. “We trust each other to make the plays when we need to. We never quit tonight.”

Baxter returned the favor in the top of the sixth. Schmidt got the first out on a ground ball and then retired the side when she snagged a line drive up the middle and threw to first base for the double play.

In the bottom of the sixth, Schmidt drew a lead-off walk, stole second and then went to third on sophomore Caitlyn Headlee’s single. She scored on a wild pitch to break the tie. Headlee also had two hits in the win.

Headlee went to third on that same wild pitch and eventually scored on an RBI by freshman McKenzie Eslinger.

“We have a young team and some the girls are lacking experience,” Schmidt said. “But we all wanted this one so bad and were able to get it done. We wanted to do whatever it took for our seniors to keep their last season going.”

Schmidt allowed an unearned run on another Baxter error in the seventh, but she ended the game with two pop outs in the infield and a ground ball to Headlee at second base.

“It feels really good. We knew we’d have to fight to get this game, but we came together and got it done,” Jessen said.

Coon Rapids-Bayard 9, Baxter 4

The first season of Baxter Bolts softball is in the books.

The Bolts capped their first season as a program with a 13-13 record after a quarterfinal loss in the Class 1A Region 7 playoffs. Coon Rapids-Bayard defeated Baxter 9-4 on July 3.

Both teams scored once in the first inning. The game remained 1-all until the fifth.

The Crusaders took a 6-1 lead with a five-run inning.

The Bolts answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth, but CR-B capped another playoff win with three more runs in the sixth.

The Bolts had 10 hits at the plate.

Wesselink led the way with three hits, three steals, one run and one RBI and Pierce had two hits and one run scored.

Senior Kaitlynn Kelly finished with two hits, sophomore Holly Jessen was 1-for-1 with a run scored and Headlee added one hit and two RBIs.

Schmidt started in the circle and took the loss after allowing nine runs — six earned — on nine hits with five strikeouts and no walks. She walked once, scored a run and stole a base offensively.

Schmidt capped her season at 13-11 in the circle.

Jessen finished the season with a team-best .455 batting average. Wesselink hit .402. No other player had a better average than .280.

The Crusaders had 10 hits at the plate.

Jade Hays had three hits, Cara McAlister had two hits and three RBIs and Katelyn Winnett drove in three runs.

Kayla Lenz earned the win in the circle for the Crusaders and had two hits at the plate. Freshman Mackayla Riley scored two runs.

Lenz struck out 10 Baxter hitters and walked just one.