Thursday, March 28, 2024
K-M catcher Meredith Wright runs through Red Wings’ Mackenzie Cota during a game on May 25.

KoMets plow their way to section semis

For the most part, the 2016 season for the Kassson-Mantorville softball team has been a period of adjustment. After having the services of Maddie Damon for a majority of the year, the KoMets have had to adapt to making plays in the field that normally weren’t necessary in their two previous state championship campaigns.

As K-M faced a bump in the road from time to time during the regular season, K-M softball coach Paul Mann stated that the goal was for his team to play their best softball in the month of May. After picking up victories over Red Wing and Northfield in the section tournament, it can be safe to say that the KoMets are beginning to reach that objective as they find themselves two wins away from another trip to the state tournament.

This year’s path to state began on May 24 when K-M hosted Red Wing in the Section 1AAA quarterfinal. After a first inning where both teams felt each other out, the KoMets would explode in the bottom of the second for five runs including a two-run blast from Meredith Wright and a two-run double by Addie Murry to get a 5-0 lead.

The KoMets wouldn’t need any more run support from that point on as Chante Thome was able to keep the Wingers at bay with a one-run, complete game in a 5-1 victory that punched K-M’s ticket to Austin.

When the KoMets arrived at Todd Park, they had a stiff test ahead of them in Northfield. In a matchup between the second and third seeds, the competition did not disappoint. After the Raiders got a couple of runs in the bottom of the first off Thome, K-M would battle back and get two in the bottom half of the first.

At the top of the third, Katie Harrington would take her claim to the role of catalyst with a leadoff triple. She would eventually score on a sac fly to give the KoMets the lead and came up big again in the fifth inning with a leadoff double, where she would score on a groundout for a 4-2 advantage.

The insurance run would prove to be big in the top of the sixth when Northfield would get a bases-loaded rally going. However, the KoMets would stand their ground and allow just one run to keep their lead at 4-3.

After allowing a leadoff single, Thome would buckle down once again in the seventh inning to finish the job and give the KoMets a berth

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Dodge County Independent

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