By: J. Daniel Pearson
All season long, St. Cloud’s softball team has relied on its team speed to put pressure on opposing defenses. They did it again Wednesday night, stealing six bases and scoring a pair of runs on wild pitches to beat Harmony, 3-2, and win the Class 7A, District 6 Championship.
“It’s been sort of M.O. all season,” St. Cloud coach Ray Whobrey said. “We have some pretty good team speed and we like to take advantage of it. Tonight was a great example.”
While starting pitcher Addison Felblinger was setting Harmony down in order in the top of the first, the Bulldogs were taking a 2-0 lead in their half of the inning. With two outs, Felblinger singled, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Skylah Rodriguez walked and stole second. Felblinger would then score on a wild pitch and Rodriguez scored on a Shyenne Hawkins’ single.
The score would remain the same until the third, when Harmony finally got to Felblinger for a couple or runs. A one-out double by Lindsay Green was followed by a Jade Allen single. Emerson Aslan loaded the bases on a four-pitch walk and with two outs, Haley Diaz drove in Harmony’s first run with a single – with Allen scoring later on the play when Aslan got into an intentional rundown between second and third.
Harmony threatened to take the lead in the top of the fifth, as Green hit a deep fly ball to dead center that bounced off the top of the fence for a double. But with one out, Felblinger retired Harmony’s number two and number three hitters on back-to-back infield pop outs to end the threat.
St. Cloud scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the inning. Kacey Pagan led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored one out later on another wild pitch. The Bulldogs managed just three hits in the game, but took advantage of four walks, a hit batter and four wild pitches.
Although she gave up six hits – including a pair of doubles to Green – Felblinger was in charge for most of the night. She peppered the strike zone all game – falling behind on three-ball counts on just twice in the game.
Harmony put the potential tying run on base with one out in the top of the seventh, but Felblinger put the game away by getting Green to pop out to third and then struck out Allen to end it. She finished the game with a six-hitter, allowing one walk and striking out eight.
“We have ridden her back all season,” Whobrey said of Felblinger, his talented junior. “She did a great job tonight. After giving up those two runs, she stayed in control and pretty much shut them down.”
With the win, St. Cloud (22-5) advances to regional play next Wednesday; where they will host a first-round game against an opponent to be named on Friday. Harmony (12-13) most likely saw its season and Green’s outstanding career come to an end. “She has been a great player and a great leader for us the past couple of seasons,” Harmony coach Kristi Mindrup noted of her senior captain. “But she is also a great student and an even better person and will be a great success in whatever she pursues in college. We will miss her greatly.”
Harmony 13, Jupiter 4
In other state playoff action Wednesday, the Harmony Longhorn baseball team won Game 1 of their best of three regional semi-final with a 13-4 victory over Jupiter. The Longhorns can punch their ticket to the Class 7A, Region 3 Championship series with a win today (Thursday) over the Warriors. A loss in that game would force a decisive Game 3 at Jupiter on Saturday.
Max Grau and Samuel Castillo were the offensive stars for Harmony on Wednesday as each drove in three runs. Clayton Williams added two hits and two RBI and Ismael Rivera allowed just one run in 5 and 1/3 innings of relief to pick up the win.
Harmony (24-6) has now won 11 straight games – five in come-from-behind fashion.
