By: J. Daniel Pearson
After putting together one of the most memorable and hard-fought seasons in recent St. Cloud Lady Bulldogs softball history, Head Coach Ray Whobrey and his Bulldogs battled their way to the FHSAA Class 7A Regional Semifinals before seeing their outstanding postseason run come to a heartbreaking end Wednesday afternoon in a narrow 1-0 loss to Centennial.
A split-second judgement decision allowed a single run to score and end St. Cloud’s softball season on Wednesday afternoon. With bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning, St. Cloud sophomore shortstop Maddie Reyes fielded Rayne Cohen’s ground ball, looked briefly to second for a force out before firing late to first base. Emma Hazelton, who opened the inning with a bloop single over the first baseman’s head on an excuse me swing, scored on the play as Centennial went on to defeat St. Cloud, 1-0, in a Class 7A, Region 2 semifinal game on Wednesday afternoon.
“It was a play that a young player is going to make sometimes,” St. Cloud coach Ray Whobrey said. “It was one run and it certainly did not cause us to lose the game. We needed to put runners on base and manufacture runs and we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
Although St. Cloud managed just one hit on the night, they were able to put a runner in scoring position in each of the first two innings. Reyes led off the bottom of the first with a walk and proceeded to steal second and third. But Centennial pitcher Makayla Megnauth struck out both Zhyra DeLa Cruz and Jaz Santiago to end the inning.
Lacey Scott would reach in the second on a bunt single and steal second. But with a runner in scoring position for the Bulldogs, both Shyenne Hawkins and Presley Nasco would pop out to the infield to end the inning.
It would be the last runners to reach base for the Bulldogs. Megnauth, a freshman, would retire the last 17 batters she faced – striking out nine and allowing just the one hit. In addition to the nine strikeouts, she retired eight hitters on infield flies and two on groundouts. Only two balls reached the outfield and both of those were routine popouts. Scott’s line drive up the middle in the fifth was St. Cloud’s hardest hit ball, but Megnauth managed to get a glove on it and deflect it to second for an easy 1-4-3 putout.
“We knew she was a good pitcher, but Centennial had given up a lot of unearned runs this year because of their defense,” Whobrey said. “We felt if we could just put the ball in play they might make some mistakes. We simply were not able to do that today.”
Felblinger, St. Cloud’s senior captain, certainly deserved a better fate. She allowed just three runners to reach scoring position, struck out six, allowed just the single run and at one time retired nine batters in a row.
“It was a frustrating way to end my high school career and season,” she said. “Give her (Megnauth) the credit, she pitched a great game and had the spin working on her pitches. It didn’t help that the umpire had a really big strike zone tonight, but offensively it was our job to adjust to that and didn’t do it.”
Felblinger is just one of three seniors that Whobrey is losing off his 18-11 OBC, District championship team. He was extremely positive about the future but got a little teary-eyed talking about his captain.
“We have a really young team and we have some extremely talented freshmen coming in,” the veteran coach said. “But, you don’t replace a player like Addy. A four-year starter, a great player, a great leader, and a better person,” he said. “I know she is going to be successful no matter where she goes, but she had meant so much to St. Cloud softball the last four years.”
