PELLA, Iowa – A deep fly ball to center off the bat of
Kayla Hokanson brought in
Allie Fauth-Kilgore in the bottom of the ninth as the No. 11 Bethel University softball team battled its way to a 4-3 extra-inning victory over No. 22 and regional top-seed Central Friday afternoon.
Capturing their 25th straight victory, the Royals (35-3) advance to the regional final Saturday afternoon at noon in a rematch with No. 22 Central who advanced out of the loser's bracket. BU will only need one win to claim the regional title while Central would need to defeat the Royals twice.
Hokanson brought in the game's biggest runs with the game-tying sacrifice fly in the seventh and the game-winner in the ninth. Bethel was limited to three hits, all of which came off the bat of Fauth-Kilgore.
Central used its stealthy base running to plate two in the top of the first inning. Meanwhile, the Bethel bats struggled early.
BU's first three hitters reached in the third before an illegal pitch to
Mikaela Girard with a 3-2 count brought in the Royals' first run.
Izzy Wilhelm would draw another bases-loaded walk, this one with two outs, evening it up.
Simacek and the defense worked out of jams in the fourth and fifth stranding a runner in scoring position each frame.
The Dutch added a two-out run to go on top, 3-2, in the seventh as a hard shot back to Simacek tipped off her glove allowing a runner to score from third with no play being able to be made at first.
The Royals were patient in the seventh with a walk, infield single and a sacrifice bunt that put two in scoring position. Two batters later K. Hokanson had a lineout to left deep enough to score pinch runner
Hailey Rismeyer making it 3-3.
Simacek took care of business in the eighth and ninth giving up only one bloop single to left. In the bottom of the ninth the patient Bethel bats prevailed again. BU drew 12 walks in the contest.
