The Gibraltar Vikings softball team saved one of its most exciting and best efforts of the season for what proved to be its final game of the season, a 9-4 loss to Howards Grove in the opening round of the WIAA Softball Tournament.
At first, it seemed like the Vikings would fall into the same dire straits they had found themselves in all season long, allowing four runs in the opening frame as the Tigers registered five hits while sending 10 batters to the plate. Emile Glocke settled in after that, allowing just three hits and two runs over the following three innings.
The Vikings were equally frustrating to Tigers pitcher Dani Demorow, getting at least two runners on in each of the first five innings. They would break through in the third inning when a fielder's choice by Courtney Foy drove in Pam Prescott after her ground-rule double to make 4-1 in the third inning. After the Tigers regained their four-run advantage, the Vikings plated two runs in the fourth thanks to a bases-clearing double by Berkley Schwab. It was 6-3 when the Vikings would strike again, this time on RBI single by Glocke that drove home Addison Richmond. The Vikings would get no closer as their offense stalled in the sixth inning and the Tigers would score three times in their half of the frame with Hailey Vandehei taking home on a passed ball while Reina Sharl and Emily Binverse collected RBI hits. The Vikings went down in order in the seventh inning, the only time it happened to either team all game long.
Prescott and Glocke led the Vikings offensively with two hits. For the Tigers, Demrow helped her cause by getting on base three times and scoring twice in the win. Sharl and Binverse each had two hits and at least one RBI.
The Vikings finish winless on the season but with the arrow pointing up toward next season.
