MADISON, WI- The Freedom Irish earned a walk-off win in their first trip to State Softball in 35 years. A sacrifice fly ball by Lauren Scheibe drove in the winning run, scoring Rylie Murphy, giving the Irish an 11-10 win in the Division 2 State Semifinals Friday.
“I just wanted to come through for my team, but Riley Murphy did most of the work,” Scheibe said. “I knew I just had to put it in play.”
Down 10-9 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, Annabel Bartoszek walked, and advanced to second on a throwing error. Rylie Murphy tripled her home to tie the game and waited for her opportunity to score.
“I was very excited and I could not ask for anything better,” Murphy said. “I knew I was scoring no matter what.”
The game started with fireworks as Emma Reismann hit the first pitch of the game over the centerfield wall. “I was stressed with it being my first at bat at state, but it worked out pretty well I would say,” Reismann said after the game.
The bulldogs took a 2-0 lead in the first, but Freedom had an answer. Back to back hits cleared the way for a three-run home run by Lizzy Wesolowski to give Freedom a 3-2 lead before lightening and rain delayed the game for about an hour. Once the clouds went away, a different storm picked up, a hitting storm.
The teams combined for 27 hits, 21 runs and each team had three errors.
“They showed a lot of heart, Freedom Coach Tim Dietzen said. He said it was the most difficult game he had to coach. “I figured if we could get a runner on to start that inning, I felt good, l liked my chances, and I love my team.”
New London took advantage of Freedom errors in the third inning and scored 7 runs, taking a 9-4 lead. The Irish answered with a four hit third inning of their own, and capitalized on two Bulldog errors to cut the lead to 9-7. New London scored one more in the fourth and Freedom scored twice in the fifth to cut the lead to 10-9.
Nakeyah Bork earned the win despite giving up 10 runs and 13 hits. She added a walk and four strikeouts.
Kenna Mix took the loss with 14 hits, three walks and three strikeouts.
Rylie Murphy was 5 for 5 with 2 RBI and everyone had at least one hit for Freedom. Emma Reismann had a 3 for 4 day and Autumn Winkleman drove in three runs for. New London.
New London co-coach Tony Porath said it was a game to remember. “They get one more game than us, but we had an incredible season,” he said. They had one more hit, one more run.”
Dietzen says he hopes the win gives them confidence to play Jefferson in the Division 2 State Championship game.
”They better feel that way, if this doesn’t get them excited, I don’t know what will.”
The teams were supposed to play each other earlier in the season, but the game was cancelled. The players are also familiar with each other as players from both Freedom and New London are on the same club team in the summer.
”I wish we would have played these guys in the Championship, Emma Reismann said.
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