A missed sign boosted Blooming Prairie to the Section 1A softball Tournament as they beat Waterville/Elysian/Morristown 4-3 in the West Subsection 1A runner-up game Wednesday at Todd Park.

BP’s Megan DeBoer stretched a sixth-inning leadoff hit into a triple and she scored on a single by Katelin Strand to put BP up 4-3 for good.

DeBoer’s hit landed in right-center field, but her hustle put some pressure on the W/E/M defense as she slid into third just as the throw came in. BP head coach Alison Mach said it was DeBoer’s call to keep running at second.

“That was all Megan,” Mach said. “She just took control. I didn’t make that call, but she took off and it worked for us.”

DeBoer, a senior, made her decision after glancing over her shoulder to see were the ball was.

“I looked over and saw where it was and I thought I could make it. It worked out for me, luckily,” she said.

After BP took the 4-3 lead, their pitcher Erica Manske forced three groundouts to get out of the seventh inning.

Things looked a lot worse for the freshman pitcher in the fifth inning, when W/E/M took a 3-2 lead off of BP throwing error and the Bucs loaded the bases with one out on a dropped pop fly by Manske.

But Manske caught a line-drive by W/E/M’s Stacy Reinke and struck out Cassie Masberg to end the inning.

“I don’t know how I dropped that ball,” Manske said. “But you just gotta find a way to get out of it and keep on playing. Stuff like that happens and you just got to let it go.”

The No. 2 seeded Awesome Blossoms (16-5 overall) tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when Resha Koster hit a two-out triple and scored on a passed ball. BP also scored on passed ball in the second inning when Strand scored after leading the inning off with a walk.

“We ran the bases pretty aggressively,” Mach said. “Both of those passed balls were short, but the girls got pretty good jumps.”

Strand’s run tied the game after the No. 7 seeded Bucs took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.

“If we don’t get those two runs were lagging in the end. Everybody just needed to step up,” DeBoer said.

W/E/M lost to Faribault B.A. in the subsection title game 7-5 before losing to BP.

BP will play in the Section 1A playoffs Saturday at Todd Park with the first game starting 10 a.m. and the second game starting at noon.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

WEM 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 7 1

BP 1 1 0 0 1 1 X 4 7 2

BP pitching: Erica Manske (W), 7 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 R, 2 ER, 3K

BP hitting: Tricia DeBoer, 1-of-3, SB; Anna Peterson, 0-of-2, SB; Resha Koster, 2-of-3, triple, SB; Kelly Peterson, 0-of-3, RBI; Megan DeBoer, 1-of-3, triple; Katelin Strand, 2-of-2, double, 1 RBIs, BB; Mag Fogarty, 1-of-2; Ashely Campbell, 0-of-3; Jordan Noble, 0-of-3

WEM pitching: Brittney Fritz, 6 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 4 ER, 1 K

WEM hitting: Danielle Mathias, 1-of-4; Michelle Lee, 1-of-3, BB; Alicia Reinke, 1-of-3; Stacy Gustafson, 1-of-3; Stacy Reinke, 1-of-4, RBI; Cassie Masberg, 0-of-3; Jes Rients, 2-of-3, double; Kayla Holling, 0-of-2; Kayla Mediger, 0-of-2; Cassie Masberg, 0-of-2