The Caledonia Area Warriors softball team entered the Section 1AA tournament as the No. 2 seed out of 15 teams. At the other end of the bracket was No. 1 seed Randolph.
While the Warriors were upset in the second round, they remain alive in the tournament, thanks to its double elimination format. The Warriors will need to fight their way through the elimination bracket, in order to get a title shot.
Lake City
In the first round, the Warriors faced off against the No. 15 seeded Lake City Tigers on Monday, May 20 at home.
Despite a slow start batting for the Warriors, they fought back and beat the Tigers by a score of 11-1 in five innings to advance to the second round.
A familiar sight at Warriors games, Braelyn Lange took to the mound once again for this first round matchup. Lange went four innings, allowing five hits and one run, while striking out six. The game started slowly. Caledonia scored first in the bottom of the second inning, but Lake City struck back in the top of the third to even the score at 1-1.
The tide turned in the third inning, sparked by a solo home run by Avery Augedahl to right field. A string of hits culminated in a three-run home run by Annah Anderson to left center field – her second home run in as many games. By the time the dust settled, the Warriors had scored six runs in the bottom of the third.
The Warriors scored once more in the fourth inning and then three more in the fifth to force a 10-run rule win. Avery Augedahl came in to pitch in the fifth inning to change up the looks Lake City got, and she closed out the top of the fifth to seal the win.
Top hitters for the game included Avery Augedahl, Elsa Blum and Aubrie Klug, who all had two hits each. Adrienne Lange, Braelyn Lange, Kennedy Hansen and Paizley Lange each contributed a hit to the effort as well.
Second round
Caledonia started off its second day at the Section 1AA tournament against the No. 7 seeded St. Charles Saints at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 23 at the Rochester Fastpitch Complex in Rochester.
The Warriors were upset in the game at 8-2.
Avery Augedahl started the second round game for the Warriors, but St. Charles was up to task for this game. Augedahl gave up four runs in two innings. Braelyn Lange came in to pitch in the third inning, but also gave up four runs to the Saints as well.
Caledonia scored two runs in the sixth, but the Saints dominated all facets of the game. Top hitters for Caledonia included Paizley Lange who went 2-3, while Avery Augedahl, Braelyn Lange, and Aubrie Klug each racked up one hit as well.
Elimination bracket
Caledonia dropped to the consolation bracket with the loss to St. Charles, but it still has a chance to get to the championship.
Facing off against the Dover-Eyota Eagles an hour after the St. Charles game, Braelyn Lange started the second game of the day. The Eagles struck immediately, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Caledonia answered with one run in the bottom side to gain some ground back.
Dover-Eyota scored two in the top of the third, and the desperation began to set in for the Warriors. Undeterred, the top of the order came through, and Elsa Blum rocketed a two-run shot over the fence, immediately followed by a solo shot by Braelyn Lange to even the score at four in the bottom of the third inning.
Avery Augedahl came into pitch in the top of the fourth inning, and she held the Eagles scoreless for the rest of the game. The Warriors came alive again in the bottom of the sixth with a string of hits by Elsa Blum, Kennedy Hansen, and Paizley Lange to score four runs and bring the lead up to 8-4.
The Eagles flashed with a double in the top of the seventh, but the Warriors closed out the side and sealed the win.
Braelyn Lange would go three innings, allowing three hits and four runs. Avery Augedahl went four innings allowing only one hit and striking out seven. Top hitters for the Warriors were led by Kennedy Hansen who went 3-4 with three RBIs, followed by Avery Augedahl, Adrienne Lange, and Elsa Blum with two hits each. Blum would also drive in three RBIs in the game.
Coach Chad Augedahl had these comments after the second day.
"First game, we played St. Charles, and kind of came out flat, not fired," he said. "Got behind early, battled back, but we just didn't play a complete game. Proud of the girls battling back."
The Warriors softball squad will play on Saturday, May 25 at 11 a.m. against Zumbrota-Mazeppa to advance through the consolation bracket. Caledonia will need to win three more times just to get back to the championship game, where it would then need to defeat the winner's bracket champion twice.
If the Warriors did claw their way back to the championship game, they'd be set to play May 30, starting at 5 p.m. at Todd Park North in Austin.
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