The Raiders softball team has had a bit of crazy ending to their 2024 regular season. They finished third in the Metro East Conference with a 13-5 overall record and third in the section with a 4-0 record in section play, yet they were assigned the fourth seed behind the 4-3 Eastview Lightning. Hastings not only had a better section record than Eastview, but they also gave the Lightning one of their three section losses.
The last two games of the regular season happened for the Raiders last week. First, they took on Simley thumping them 7-0 on Tuesday night. Friday, Hopkins came to town and that game was a lot more interesting than expected.
Against Simley, Hastings jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first. Sienna McCoy singled to start the game and a wild pitch moved her to second. A single to left field by Lauren Jenkins scored McCoy and Jenkins advanced to second on the throw. Kylie Evans crushed a double to left center to score Jenkins before the side was retired.
In the second inning, Emily Dembroski singled to left then Lauren Muhl singled to right to give Hastings two on the bases. McCoy hit a fielder’s choice which resulted in Dembroski being forced out at third base for the first out of the inning. Haley Strain singled to left to score Muhl for the third Raider run of the game.
Hastings scored two more in the fourth another run scored went in the books for both Muhl and McCoy, and the RBI’s came from the bat of Evans, this time from a single to left, and Hastings had the 5-0 lead. Lauren Meyer and Dembroski both scored in the fifth with RBI’s from Muhl and McCoy to finish the game 7-0.
Strain pitched six innings striking out nine and walking only two. Kora Odman finished the game striking out two, walking one in the win.
The final regular season game was a non-conference game against the Hopkins Royals on Senior Night. Five wonderful young ladies will complete their school year on the softball field one last time, Maddie Chandler, Ellie Stevens, Kylie Evans, Emily Dembroski, Lauren Jenkins and Kaylee Hunt will graduate this year.
As Hastings has done in many games this year, they jumped out to a first inning lead. Strain was walked, Jenkins hit a single and Evans hit into a fielder’s choice but reached on an error that allowed Strain to score and Jenkins to advance to third. Maddie Chandler hit a single to left scoring Jenkins and the Raiders were up 2-0.
Hopkins fought back, cutting the lead in half in the top of the fourth 2-1. Hastings then scored two more with Dembroski and Strain each getting a run scored with Jenkins and Evans each logging an RBI to put the Raiders up 4-1.
In the sixth, Hopkins flipped a switch, and they were suddenly all over Strain’s pitches. By the time the dust settled, Hastings had trailed 5-4. Hopkins maintained that lead into the seventh inning, but Jenkins led off with a single to left off of the newly entered pitcher. Muhl hit into a fielder’s choice but once again, an errant throw allowed a run to score from second and as soon as Jenkin’s touched home plate, the Raiders knew they were going to win this game.
Hastings could not capitalize on other runners in scoring position, so the game went into extra innings. Hopkins went down 1,2,3 in the top of the eighth and the Hastings bats went to work. Dembroski started the inning by being hit by the pitch for a free base. Strain singled to left, Jenkins followed suit and the Raiders had the bases loaded with Evans coming up. Evans hit a soft grounder to third and that fielder’s choice went directly home to log the first out of the inning and keep the game tied at five.
The bases stayed loaded for Hastings and Lauren Meyer came to the plate. Meyer took the count to full and kept Raider fans on edge the whole at bat. The sixth pitch crossed the plate and Hastings was down to their final out of the inning. Chandler stepped to the plate having already been responsible for one run in this game. Chandler also took the count to full, and the tension really built in the stadium. The Hopkins pitcher fired the final pitch of the at bat and the umpire bellowed out ‘BALL!’. Chandler’s take earned her another RBI and the Raiders win as Strain triumphantly jumped onto home plate. In the eight innings pitched, Strain struck out 10 and only walked one.
The regular season came to an end for Hastings, but now the section tournament starts for a trip to state. As of press time, the game was slated to be played on Tuesday at home, but the weather forecast was not looking good. The game is slated to be played at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, so we will have those details in next week’s edition. We will also alert readers to the score and additional games, and any postponements should the last two occur on our social media channels. If Hastings wins the first round of sections, they will play the winner of #1 Rosemount and #8 Burnsville. That game will be played at the higher seed on May 23 at 4:30 p.m. again, keep an eye on our social media for those details.