TCU softball defeats BEA before falling to LCWM in section play, will enter consolation bracket

The Tri-City United softball team had it's postseason opener delayed a day after fierce thunderstorms rolled through the region Tuesday night. Despite the delay, the Titans defeated Blue Earth Area 12-5 to advance into a matchup with top seeded Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Thursday.

TCU ultimately fell to the Knights 5-1, placing them into the consolation bracket which will begin play Saturday morning at Caswell Park in North Mankato. The Titans will play against the No. 4 seeded Fairmont on field three with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.

Tri-City United - 12, Blue Earth Area - 5

The Titans hosted the Buccaneers Wednesday evening in Lonsdale and the offense for the home team showed up in a big way. Lexi Factor led the game off with a triple to right field. After a Mallorie Plut walk, Cristina Cruz put a ball into the air near the shortstop that got lost in the sun and wind, scoring Factor from third, before Avery Lerfald hit a single to right that scored Plut.

A groundout to shortstop scored Cruz before Anne Cooper sent a fly ball to right to score Lerfald, giving TCU the 4-0 lead. In the top of the second, BEA cut the deficit to just one run with a three-run blast to centerfield but the Titans extended the lead in the bottom of the inning with a two-run single from Adison Schroer.

The Buccaneers scored two more runs in the top of the third, but those would be the final runs that TCU would allow in the game. In the bottom of the third, Lexi Factor hit an RBI double to center followed by a Plut walk and the blast of the night when Cruz shmashed a grand slam over the left field fence.

Cruz would earn her sixth RBI of the night on a double to center that scored Factor for the final run of the night securing the 12-5 win.

Factor, Cruz and Lerfald all finished with a pair of hits and accounted for nine of the runs batted in. Schroer earned the win in the circle, allowing five runs on six hits while striking out five.

Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial - 5, Tri-City United - 1

Thursday evening, the Titans made the trip to Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial H.S. to face the top seed in the section. The Knights scored the first four runs of the night before TCU could muster a response.

In the top of the fourth inning, TCU got its lone run of the night when Isabella Jones, who was in as a courtesy runner for Cruz who had hit a double, stole third and reached home on an error at third.

LCWM got the run back in the bottom of the inning though and that would be all the scoring in the game as the Titans loss places them into the consolation bracket.