Emotional End For Softball Seniors

Twin Lakes senior Katie Reiff could barely watch the final three outs of Monday’s sectional game to Benton Central.
Reiff and her teammates had battled all the way back from a 6-0 deficit with the Indians taking a 7-6 lead in the sixth. Now, trailing 8-7 in the seventh, Reiff buried her face in a towel to escape the situation.
She didn’t want to end her fabulous four-year softball career without a sectional title. She didn’t want to get knocked off again in the sectional by a Benton Central team the Indians beat twice this season. But all she could do was watch from the dugout.
“Oh yeah, it’s tough,” Reiff said of the loss while battling tears. “The girls just don’t give up. We could have lost 6-0 but it was 8-7.”
When senior Abby Dilling entered the pitching circle against the Bison she knew they would have a feel for her pitches. That’s because Dilling earned two W’s against them during the season. What she didn’t know is that BC would jump on her immediately. After being relieved in the second inning, Dilling had surrendered six runs – four of which were earned – and two triples.
“They got on me and I knew it was going to happen,” said Dilling, who finished 1-for-3 from the plate. “BC’s a good team and if we faced them four times it would probably be 2-2.”
As TL (24-6) entered the third inning, the players set a goal of two runs an inning to narrow the margin. A triple from Ashlee Keil helped the two-run third, a double from Tabby Bonnell helped the two-run fourth and Savanna Gaumer’s contact helped the two-run fifth.
“It was a rollercoaster,” Twin Lakes coach Desiree Swaim said. “It was back and forth. The girls don’t give up and made things happen.”
All the while, Bonnell had silenced BC’s bats and was rolling into the sixth inning. With two outs and no one on, two errors and one hit resulted in two BC runs, including the go-ahead run that scored when Reiff tried getting a runner out at third. Third baseman Chelsea Hicks thought Reiff was throwing home so she ducked and then got hit in the side with Reiff’s throw.
“It was a game of a lot of freak things,” Reiff said. “They scored a lot of freak runs. They’re a good team but the run at the end was real weird.
“That’s part of it, I guess … Get lucky at the right time. We left everything on the field. We left it all out there.”
The loss was difficult for Swaim to handle because her seniors were “special to her.”
“It’s sad for the seniors,” Swaim said. “It’s emotional for me that they’re done because they’re a good bunch. I’m so proud of them.
“We had a great season.”

Published in the Herald Journal in May 2009.