“I’m a little bummed,” Mangen said after her squad finished 27-4, ranked sixth in the state. “I know this crushes (the players), but they should be proud of how far the program has come since their freshman year.”
Northmont had held the Comets in check, but the final out proved elusive when Mason leadoff hitter Erin Rockstroh drove a Whitney Fiedler pitch up the middle, scoring pinch-runner Abbey Mullins and Ali Weekley.
“We had a senior step up,” Mason coach Liann Muff said after her squad improved to 25-2 and moved into the regional final Saturday at noon against the Lakota East-Lakota West winner. “She’s (Rockstroh) a winner and a big-game, big-time performer and she produced. There is no one else I want up there in that situation.”
Rockstroh had been silent until then, going 0-for-3, but Mangen was far from comfortable about getting the last out.
“When it mattered most, she came through. It’s part of the little things,” Mangen said. “I knew it wasn’t over. At no point did I feel comfortable.”
Not even when the T-Bolts took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Taylor Hoover reached on a two-out error and Fiedler drove the ball over the fence.
Mason cut it to 2-1 in the fourth on a suicide squeeze, but both teams kept a big inning from happening. Mason turned three double plays, including one that ended in a play at the plate in the third, while Northmont recorded a pair of double plays, the last getting them out of a jam with a runner on third and one out.
Northmont stranded seven runners while Mason left four on base.
“We had some missed opportunities,” Mangen said. “Defensively, we weren’t as good as we normally have been. It’s the little things. They capitalized and they advanced.”
Courtney Jasinski went 3-for-4 and Cory Mangen was 2-for-4 to pace Northmont’s eight-hit night.
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