Preston takes seventh at state

Jay Rickertsen
Interim Sports Editor

July 18, 2008 11:16 am

— FORT DODGE — The Preston softball team followed up a pair of losses earlier in the week at the Iowa State Softball Tournament with a 2-0 win over Fremont-Mills in the class 1A seventh place game on Thursday.
The Trojans lost 1-0 to Newell-Fonda in the first round and 3-1 to Southeast Webster in a consolation semifinal to get to the seventh place contest at the Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge.
Big East Conference MVP, Kelcie Bormann, struck out an Iowa Class 1A state tournament record-tying 16 batters on Thursday in the win. The freshman ace allowed just one hit in seven innings of work and allowed just one earned run in the three games at the tournament.
The Trojans took seventh place in the eight-team tournament after falling short of the Elite Eight last season by a game.
The Trojans did their damage in the third and fourth innings as they collected four of their seven hits on the day and both of their runs in the two frames.
The third started with Whitney Bormann singling and then advancing to second on a Jordan Feddersen sacrifice bunt.
Leadoff batter, Haley Andresen, doubled to drive in Bormann and to give Preston the 1-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, freshman shortstop Megan Zeimet singled to center field and then cleanup hitter, Kelcie Bormann, doubled to left, to give the Trojans runners at first and second.
Senior Lauryn Camp reached base on an error by the Fremont-Mills third baseman.
On the error, Zeimet scored to run the Trojans lead to 2-0. Also on the play, Kelcie Bormann got to third and Camp went to second as Preston looked to add some insurance runs to their two-run lead.
The next two batters struck out as Fremont-Mill’s pitcher Mindy Lorimor buckled down to halt the run.
Preston got a couple more base runners in the sixth inning, but failed to capitalize.
Zeimet opened the inning by singling. After Kelcie Bormann popped out to right field, Tiffany Bormann reached on a fielder’s choice as Zeimet was out at second on the force.
Camp came up and singled to advance Tiffany Bormann to second. With runners at first and second with two outs, Whitney Bormann popped out to the catcher to strand the base runners.
Fremont-Mills’ lone hit came in the first inning as catcher Lauren Alley singled on a bunt with two outs. Kelcie Bormann struck out the next batter to end the only threat that Preston faced as Fremont-Mills only had two base runners in the game.
Preston head coach Tim Zeimet was pleased his team was able to taste victory at the state tournament after dropping two tough games early in the week.
“After losing those other two, the girls wanted to go out and get one and they did,” Zeimet said. “It made for a lot nicer ride home. The loss to Newell-Fonda (a 1-0 loss in the bottom of the seventh inning) really took the sap out of the week, but they came back and got this one. There are a lot of teams who don’t get this far, but a win there would have changed the whole week for us.”
Preston’s season ends with a 25-13 record, while Fremont-Mills ends up at 25-7.
Score by Innings
Preston 001 100 0 —2 7 1
F-M 000 000 0 —0 1 0
Kelcie Bormann and Haley Andresen. Mindy Lorimor and Lauren Alley.
Two or more hits—Preston, Megan Zeimet. 2B—Preston, Andresen, K. Bormann. RBI—Preston, Andresen.
Records—Preston 25-13; Fremont-Mills 25-7.