Vikings move on to finals

By Todd Lancaster, Sports Editor

May 20, 2008 11:14 pm

— LOOGOOTEE — The Barr-Reeve Vikings were the first team in the Loogootee softball sectional to earn their way into the sectional finals — and earn was the operative word.
Although the Lady Vikes came away with a 10-0 win in six innings, both WC and B-R were forced to dig a deeper than the score might have indicated.
The Vikings were able to end the game early with the 10-run rule in effect, but WC came up with several big plays that slowed the Vikings down.
“Give Barr-Reeve credit. We hit the ball right at them and they did a good job of fielding it and made the plays,” said WC coach Kevin Buckley.
“We put in a full seven innings down at Wood Memorial last week and we didn’t tonight. That is the consequences of not putting in a full seven innings.”
Barr-Reeve did its best to put a solid game together and helped itself with a mix of solid defense, strong pitching and a little power thrown in.
“It was a nice win, but we had to work for some things,” said B-R coach Bret Graber. “It was nice to see us step up and do some things the right way. We put the bat on the ball and made only one or two errors.
“We did make some base-running errors, but I would rather have the girls be aggressive than not aggressive.”
The Vikings got down to business against WC senior Kelci Prewett, scoring two runs in the first inning, as Laura Wagler scored and Mallory Wagler crossed the plate on a single from Kylee O’Connor. However, Prewett was able to work her way out of the jam and B-R led just 2-0.
The Vikings added four more runs in the second inning, as a hit batsman, a walk and a pair of errors and a single from Morganne Doyle, led to Amber Rademacher, Hillary Graber, Mallory Wagler and O’Connor to score, making it 6-0.
The Vikes looked like they would be breaking the game open in the third, but twice WC would get the force outs at the plate to keep Barr-Reeve from scoring.
The Cards also made the switch in the circle to Kayti Graber, who allowed just a run in the fourth as O’Connor doubled and scored, before B-R was able to finally get three runs in the sixth inning.
“I wanted to start Kelci because she is a senior and this was her last sectional. She did a nice job and so did Kayti. We still have everyone coming back except our two seniors. We are learning and getting better,” added Buckley.
O’Connor had the biggest blast of the night with a two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning. She ended up going 3-4 and reached all four times, while driving in and scoring three times. She has been a driving force all year for the Vikes, hitting .472 and leading the team in hits and RBI.
“She has really been on a streak lately,” said Graber. “She has been working on her stance with Coach Kavanaugh and Coach Bullock, so it is really nice to see her step up.”
The Vikings final run of the game came after Sara Lengacher was hit, was replaced by Elisha Bault and eventually scored on a pass ball.
The Cardinals were limited to just two hits, with Natasha Richardson singling in the bottom of the sixth and Rachel Wichman reaching on a single in the fourth.
Haley Kavanaugh went five innings to get the win for the Vikings, but Kayla Tinkle came in and closed the door, facing five batters in the sixth.
“She (Kavanaugh) is not really fast, but she is always around the plate and the ball drops a lot. I was nice to get Kayla some work, as she is coming off ACL surgery.”
The Vikings will play the Cougars at 6 p.m. on Thursday in Loogootee in the finals.

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