Akron-Westfield came up with its accustomed multi-run inning when it hosted South O’Brien in a Class 1A Region 7 quarterfinal. The Wolverines also had an inning where they posted a crooked number on the scoreboard but more like it were not to be as the team fell to the Westerners 8-5 July 9 at Akron.
“I felt we played great for all but the fourth inning when we gave up four runs because we made four errors in the infield,” commented South O’Brien head coach Heather Struve. “Both of our pitchers threw well, holding A-W to eight hits and four earned runs. We hit the ball well enough to score a run in the first inning and had a big inning of our own in the fifth, scoring three runs. We just needed to bunch up a few more hits to manufacture a few more runs. Akron is always going to score a few on you, no matter what, especially with their good short game. And that is just what they did against us…squeezed in a bunch of runs. A-W is ranked #9 and I thought we went into this game determined and gave it a fantastic effort. We have nothing to hang our heads about, considering earlier in the season they had beaten us 17-9.”
South O’Brien had seven hits for the night, nearly matching the Westerners’ total. Abby Nelson and BreLee Rasmussen each notched two hits with Abby Woodall, Tawni Wulf and Reese Farquhar adding one apiece. Woodall, Rasmussen, Wulf and Farquhar each drove in a run. Nelson and Rasmussen each scored a pair of runs.
Griebel got the pitching start and took the loss. She went 3-1/3 innings, allowing seven runs on five hits. Just three of the runs were earned. Griebel walked one batter and hit one. Wulf’s 2-2/3 innings yielded one earned run on three hits. She also walked just one batter. South O’Brien committed five errors in all.
The Wolverines close out their season with a record of 12-15. “This was a really fun group of girls to work with this summer,” shared Struve. “They responded to anything the coaches asked of them. We improved our team hitting from .234 to .286! That’s a huge jump! Hopefully we continue to move that number up next year. We will return both of our top pitchers in Alli Griebel and Tawni Wulf. Both girls threw with much more confidence at the end of the season. We also return a bunch of starters around the field in Woodall who hit just over .400, along with Avery Halverson, Griebel, Farquhar and Rasumssen who were all over .300. It should be a fun 2026 summer!”
This was the final game for a pair of South O’Brien seniors. “We will be losing our two middle infielders in shortstop Abby Nelson and second baseman Ashlynn Gunnerson,” said Struve. “These two are both very knowledgeable of the game of softball and move on the field very well. They are leaving big shoes to fill. Nelson was also our leadoff hitter with a .359 average. I thank Abby and Ashlynn for their work and time that they have put into South O’Brien softball. They’ve been nothing but a pleasure to have on our team day in and day out.”
SO’ 1 0 0 0 3 0 1 – 5
A-W 1 2 0 4 1 0 0 – 8