Walk-off 3-run home run in the bottom of the 8th lifts Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms softball team past NRHEG 12-10

The Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms and NRHEG Panthers softball teams had the unique opprotunity to play their Gopher Conference matchup Tuesday at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium at the University of Minnesota, home of the Gophers women’s fastpitch softball team.  The two teams put on quite a show as the Blossoms, who trailed 7-0 at one point in the game were able to rally back and send the game into extra innings, and in the bottom of the eighth with BP trailing 10-9, slugging third baseman Shawntee Snyder belted a fastball over the left-center field fence for a walk-off, three-run home run to lift the Blossoms to an incredible 12-10 victory.

The game was all NRHEG through the first four innings as the Panthers parlayed good hitting with errors defensively for Blooming Prairie to score four runs in the top of the second, one in the third and two in the fourth for a 7-0 lead.  But, the momentum of the game then swung completely to the Blossoms as they plated five runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Panthers lead to 7-5.  NRHEG scored two more runs in the top of the sixth to boost their lead back to four runs at 9-5, but Blooming Prairie refused to fold and came back with two runs in their half of the sixth and two in the seventh to send the game into extra innings tied at 9-9.  The Panthers pushed across a run in the top of the eighth for a 10-9 lead, but Snyder then connected off of junior pitcher Faith Nielsen with the walk-off three-run blast that sent the Blossoms and their fans into a wild celebration.

Snyder wound up going 3 for 5 for the game with the home run, a double, four RBI’s and a run scored, Macy Lembke was 2 for 4 with two runs scored, Anna Haberman went 2 for 4 with two runs knocked in and one scored, junior second baseman Rachel Winzenburg was 1 for 5 with a pair of RBI’s and two runs scored, Lily Schammel picked up a hit in four official plate appearances and scored a run, pitcher Haven Carlson was 1 for 3 with a double and a run scored, centerfielder Emma Smith went 1 for 4 with two RBI’s and a run scored, and Layla Lembke, Lexi Steckelberg and Madelaine Stoen all scored runs in the dramatic win.

Carlson went the distance for the win in the circle for the Blossoms as she gave up the 10 Panther runs, but with nine errors in the field, only four were earned, 12 hits, and she struck out two and walked four.

With the win, their fourth in a row, the Blossoms now sit at 8-6 on the season, and Blooming Prairie will return to action at home Thursday versus United South Central in the Gopher Conference, with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m.