Seniors Strasser, Howdeshell lift Rochester past Culver

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

CULVER — Darah Strasser scored on a throwing error in the top of the eighth inning, and Mia Howdeshell returned to the circle to record the final four outs in Rochester’s 11-10 win over host Culver Friday.

Rochester led 8-1 going into the bottom of the fifth and 10-5 going into the bottom of the seventh, but Culver scored five runs with two outs in the seventh to tie the game.

Strasser finished 2 for 3 with three runs scored. She led off the eighth with a hit by pitch, and she stole second. She then stole third and scored when the throw from the catcher was wild for an error down the third baseline. It was one of six Culver errors for the game.

Strasser was asked about the difference between stealing second and stealing third. She said she looked at the positioning of the third baseman to determine whether she could get there.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s harder to steal, but you’re less likely to be safe when you steal, but their third base was playing up pretty short, so I felt confident that I would be safe on that,” Strasser said.

Jadyn Field hit a solo homer in the first, and Aubrey Wilson hit a grand slam in the third to help Rochester (5-3) to a 6-0 lead.

Emma Mathias and Gabby Medina also had RBIs. Medina’s RBI came on a squeeze bunt in the top of the seventh.

Aubrey Miller went 3 for 5 with a run scored. Wilson also had a double. Makhia Harding also had a single.

Mia Howdeshell pitched the first 5 ⅔ innings. Mathias relieved and pitched one inning. Howdeshell then returned to pitch the final 1 ⅓ innings, which included inducing Maddy Hamilton to ground to Mathias, who threw to Gabby Medina to start a 6-4-3 double play in the bottom of the eighth. Howdeshell then retired Kalli England on a grounder to Mathias at shortstop to end the game with first baseman Field lifting Mathias in the air to celebrate the win.

“I will say it goes back to last night,” Rochester coach Jim Coleman said pf Strasser and Howdeshell, referring to a practice the team had right after a 9-5 home loss to North Miami. “Those two stepped vocally and took ownership out of the last two, three games. That’s something I haven’t seen from those two. To see them really owning today’s game but the past couple, I hope will go a long way with this team because that’s something we have been missing with this team is some leadership.”

Culver’s Savannah Schlemmer singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but Mathias struck out Madison Kitts and Maddy Hamilton looking.

Culver was down to their final out. But then the next six batters reached base.

England doubled, moving Schlemmer to third.

Abigayle Zehner’s sinking liner to right dropped, and rolled past right fielder Brailyn Hunter. Schlemmer and England scored, and Zehner landed on third with a two-run triple. Zehner then scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-8.

Brooke Davis reached on an infield single and stole second. She went to third on a wild pitch. Aiden Molebash walked.

A Mathias wild pitch scored Davis and moved Molebash to second.

Gracie Milam then ripped a single to center to score Molebash and tie the game. After Mathias walked Hayden Lute, Coleman put Howdeshell back in the circle.

Howdeshell struck out Schlemmer to offer on a pitch in the dirt for a strikeout to end the inning.

Zehner and Milam had three hits each for Culver (6-2). Milam finished with four RBIs, and Zehner had two RBIs. Kitts had two hits and an RBI.

Molebash took the loss in the circle.

Despite the loss, Culver coach J.B. Overmyer called the game "encouraging."

“Rochester’s a very good team, and I’ve been here for a few years now, and we’re always getting 10-run ruled, so to compete eight innings with them, I’m extremely happy with our girls today.”

She allowed Field’s solo homer in the first that made it 2-0. In the third, Strasser reached on a bunt double, and Miller reached on a bunt single. Mathias fell behind 0-2 in the count before working a walk to load the bases. That set up Wilson, who crushed a grand slam to deep left-center.

Kitts’ RBI single in the fourth made it 6-1, but Wilson scored on a wild pitch, and Hunter scored on an error to make it 8-1 in the fifth.

Molebash reached on an error, and Milam had an RBI infield single to make it 8-3 in the bottom half.

Mathias’ RBI grounder in the sixth upped the lead to 9-3, but Milam cranked a two-run double inside the left field line to make it 9-5 in the bottom half.

Rochester increased their lead to five on Medina’s squeeze bunt in the seventh.

Afterwards, Strasser described herself and Howdeshell as “natural leaders.”

“As a team, I think we really needed this win,” Strasser said. “We have a couple of our big players out (Bria Rensberger and Mylee Heinzmann), and we’ve been struggling all around, so I think this win is really big for us.”

For Culver, the team has continued to progress after last year’s sectional final loss to Westville.

“They’ve matured,” Overmyer said. “We were a very young team – freshmen and sophomores and one junior last year. Just the freshmen, one more year with them, so we’ve got sophomores and juniors now, and they’ve matured a lot.”

Rochester’s participation in a tournament scheduled for the following day at Logansport was canceled due to rain.

Rochester 11, Culver 10 (8 innings)

Rochester 204 021 11 – 11 10 3

Culver 000 122 50 – 10 13 6

WP – Mia Howdeshell (7 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 7 K)

LP – Aiden Molebash (8 IP, 9 H, 11 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 HBP, 8 K)

2B – Aubrey Wilson (RHS), Abigayle Zehner (CUL), Gracie Milam (CUL), Kalli England (CUL)

3B – Abigayle Zehner (CUL)

HR – Jadyn Field (RHS), Aubrey Wilson (RHS)