Photo by Samantha Davis. The Murray County Central softball team greets Emmi Peltola at home plate after hitting a two-run homer against Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A South subsection semifinals Thursday night. Kat Miller also had a two-run homer in the game, as the Rebels fell to the Dutchmen 8-7 after defeating Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 9-4.

SLAYTON — In a competitive showdown that saw a pair of two-run homers and three ties, the second-seeded Murray County Central softball team fell to No. 3 Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian in the final inning 8-7 in the Section 3A South subsection semifinals Thursday night. The result came after MCC defeated No. 7 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 9-4 in the tournament’s opening round to end the Panthers’ season behind a four-run first inning.

MCC ran into E/SWC in the subsection semifinals after No. 6 Lakeview fought struggles on both ends of the field in a 15-5 loss in six innings to the Dutchmen in the first round.

MCC moves to 14-6 overall with the win and loss, and will next face No. 5 MACCRAY in the section elimination bracket on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Marshall softball complex.

The tournament is double-elimination, and the winner of Saturday’s game will play directly after at 3 p.m. against the winner of No. 4 Bold and No. 3 Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa.

The Panthers finish the year 7-10 overall, and graduate seniors Brianna Duscher, Timmerman, Brooklyn Elsen and Katelyn Ruppert.

“They’ve all been very good teammates,” Campbell said of the seniors. “They’ve all been supportive of their younger teammates, and we wish them well.”

FIRST ROUND

MCC 9, TMB 4

The Panthers were down eight runs, 9-1, and went on a late push in the sixth inning with three runs to come within five. But, the Rebels’ efficient pitching and continuous hitting didn’t allow TMB to fully get back within reach.

“The approach was to play the best game we possibly could play, and have fun doing it,” TMB head coach Karl Campbell said. “I think at times we play pretty tight … We just made too many mistakes at key points and got ourselves way down again … The biggest thing that sticks out to me is we play like a young team.”

Thea Schneider pitched the entire game for MCC, while Gretchen Lanoue took to the mound in the first inning for TMB.

Melaina Ankrum relieved Lanoue with one out in the first after the Rebels scored four runs, and pitched the rest of the game.

“The message I just gave the girls [postgame] was that we got to embrace the fact we’ve got a summer season coming up, and there’s opportunities,” Campbell said. “There’s so much situational ball … You have to understand how to deal with those situations based on the number of outs, based on who’s hitting, based on what position you’re playing, based on just so many different things.”

The Panthers were the first to get on the board with a run in the top of the first inning after Ankrum charged home from first base off a defensive error with a Piper Freeburg infield single, which was overthrown to first base by MCC.

Ankrum first got on base with a hard ground ball single to center field.

But, TMB’s lead was short-lived after MCC quickly found its offensive rhythm for four runs in response in its first at-bat.

Kate Blankenship initiated the scoring with a single RBI single to right field to run in both Emmi Peltola and Ava Deacon from second and third base respectively.

Peltola first hit a single line drive to center field, and Deacon was walked.

A Taylor Larson double out to right center field allowed Audrey Miller and Blankenship to score for a 4-1 lead, and Campbell made the pitching change to Ankrum. She struck out the next two batters to end the inning and halt the Rebels.

Miller was courtesy running for Schneider, who was automatically put on base with an intentional walk.

The next two innings were scoreless for the two teams, with MCC and TMB both making strong defensive plays.

With two outs in the bottom of the second, Panthers’ catcher Piper Freeburg threw down to Braelynn Kirk for the tag-out at second of MCC’s Peltila attempting to steal.

While manning the mound in the top of the third, Schneider accounted for a pair of outs after fielding two consecutive hits and throwing the force out at first.

MCC scored two more runs in the fourth inning to build its lead to 6-1.

“There were times during that game we maybe panicked in the moment, and you can’t do that against good teams,” Campbell said. “MCC has a good pitcher, a good team and is well coached. They played pretty spotlessly.”

The Rebels got bases loaded with two outs, Deacon on first, Kat Miller on second and Calleigh Doeden on third, when Schneider was hit by a pitch to advance all runners up a base and give Doeden home.

Kat Miller also got home before TMB completed the final out off a Blankenship infield grounder.

MCC put the dagger on the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with another three runs to extend its lead to 9-1, sparked by Larson being walked and Doeden hitting a single pop fly to short center field.

Kat Miller had the largest hit of the game with a hard line drive triple out to deep center field, to run in both Larson and Doden.

The Rebels again got bases loaded with Miller on third, Deacon being walked and again intentionally walking Schneider with two outs.

Blankenship was walked to bring in Miller, just before TMB’s Lanoue caught a foul ball at the fence off the first base line to end the inning.

The Panthers’ embarked on their comeback attempt in the top of the sixth with a trio of runs to cut into a 9-4 deficit, ultimately becoming the final score.

Ankrum and Kirk both got on base with infield singles, and Ankrum got home off an Aliyah Loftness hard line drive to deep center field.

Kirk also got on base with a hit to right field, and her and Loftness scored from a Kendra Timmerman single to center field with two outs.

“The last time we played them [MCC], we did not hit the ball well against,” Campbell said. “We were putting the ball in play, and we’ve worked really hard on that this past week in the cage. That was basically our main focus.”

GAME 2

E/SWC 8, MCC 7

Kat Miller and Emmi Peltola both hit a two-run home run in the fourth and sixth inning respectively, with Miller’s tying the game up and Peltola’s bringing the Rebels back within one run.

“They’re [E/SWC] a good team and we’re a good team, and it’s just that battle we have,” MCC head coach Elissa Wieneke said. “That’s why I love my team, because they don’t give up. I’ll go to bat for them, and they’ll go to bat for everybody else.”

MCC defeated Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 9-4 in the subsection quarterfinals, also played on Thursday prior to the semis, as E/SWC eliminated Lakeview 15-5 in six innings.

“We just do our same thing … From here on out, it can be anybody’s game,” Wieneke said. “We’ll just keep practicing like we know how to.”

Although the Rebels never had a lead in the second game, they continued to stay within reach and tied the game up on three different occasions in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

MCC tied the score up 5-5 in the fifth inning with the help of a triple from Elyse Paulzine due to a Dutchmen defensive error to run in Kate Blankenship from second, who initially hit a double fly ball to deep right field.

Paulzine then went home off a Taylor Larson single grounder to left field.

E/SWC continued to chip away when it could and brought in three runs in the sixth inning to build an 8-5 lead off a hit, scoring on a passed ball and off a sacrifice.

Yet, Peltola brought the Rebels right back into the game, 8-7, with her homer in response, scoring Ava Deacon who was walked.

“They [Peltola and Miller] came up big when we needed it,” Wieneke said. “I think their hard work they put in, they deserve that. I believe anybody on our top can do that. Good for them, we needed it.”

The Dutchmen got runners on first and second base in the top of the seventh inning with a hit and walk, but MCC’s defense came up big with a double play. Paulzine fielded a ground ball at third base and force tagged third, and threw down to Larson at first base for another force.

With the Rebels stepping up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh looking for a walk-off, Blankenship got the batting started with a line drive to right field.

Larson was walked to put two runners on base, but the Dutchmen’s defense secured the three outs between a pop fly catch, foul ball catch and a strikeout to complete the upset.

Thea Schneider again pitched the entire game, who also spent all seven innings in the circle in the first game against TMB.

“She’s [Schneider] a big reason why we’re successful,” Wieneke said. “She puts a lot of pressure on herself, and I’m always proud of her.”

MCC and E/SWC entered Tuesday tied 1-1 with each other in the regular season.

The Rebels took the first meeting 7-4 on April 21, while the Dutchmen got revenge 5-0 on Thursday, which also was MCC’s last regular season game.

Edgerton got on the board with a run in the first inning, and MCC tied it up in the third with a Schneider single RBI to score Deacon from third.

Down 3-1 in the fourth after the Dutchmen scored two runs in the top of the inning, Miller’s home run also brought in Calleigh Doeden, who got on base with a single line drive just past second base.

“We’re dangerous when we have the bats in our hand, and we just have to stop some bleeding sometimes,” Wieneke said. “That’s just the name of the game. They’re going to come up with hits and we have to find ways to stop them … There’s never enough innings against a good team.”