Vikings hold off Knights in regional quarterfinals

Bree Mitchell came up big for Stanton in its thrilling 12-11 win over Fremont-Mills in the Class 1A, Region 6 quarterfinals last Wednesday in Tabor.

Mitchell belted a three-run home run in the second inning and picked up the complete-game win in the circle. The senior scattered eight hits and seven earned runs while striking out five.

All night long, Mitchell pitched herself out of jams, including the bottom of the seventh when the Knights cut the lead to 12-11 and had the game-tying run at second base when she induced two pop ups to end the threat.

“She doesn’t give up,” said Stanton coach Brandie McFarland. “If she’s sore or hurting, I’ll never know it until after we’re done.”

From their first at bats, the Viqueens were aggressive at the plate, jumping on early pitched and spraying the ball to all fields. Stanton finished the night with 10 hits.

“We’ve been talking about hitting,” McFarland said. “We’ve been popping the ball up a lot. We’ve been focusing on grounders and line drives – that’s what we want to hit. We always want to get out to a good start, and we got out to a great start.”

Stanton led 4-3 after one inning and 7-5 after two but saw that lead balloon to 12-5 after the fourth. The Viqueens scoring would end there as the Knights plated four runs in the fifth and one each in the sixth and seventh.

Mitchell finished her night 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs.

Victoria McFarland was 4-for-5 at the plate and drove in three runs and scored two runs.  

Down 12-5, the Knights never panicked, said coach Kyle Fichter, but the hole they found themselves in was just too big to dig out of.

“I thought we did a good job of keeping composure when things just weren’t going our way,” Fichter said. “In the end the routine plays that we didn’t make, hurt us.”

Saige Mitchell started in the circle for the Knights before giving way to Adelynn Billingsley out of the bullpen. Mitchell took the loss after allowing nine hits and five earned runs while striking out five.

Lana Alley had three hits and drove in five runs for the Knights at the plate.

Billingsley had two hits and drove in a run and Bella Gute and Billingsley each had a hit and drove in runs.

Fremont-Mills closes out its season with a final record of 16-10.

Seniors Bella Gute and Hannah Wilson played their last game in a Knight uniform in the regional loss.

“Bella and Hannah did a great job this year of being good teammates and leaders for the team and they both had exceptional years,” Fichter said.