Adams softball team misses out on state Legion berth

Published 9:25 pm Thursday, July 20, 2023

By Rocky Hulne

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ROSE CREEK — The Adams Post 146 softball team has done a lot of growing this summer, but the team learned it still has a ways to go after it was eliminated in a 4-3 loss to La Crescent in a Regional final Thursday.

Adams, which lost to LaCrescent 3-2 on Tuesday, would’ve had to win twice on Thursday to advance to its second straight legion softball tournament. 

LaCrescent took advantage of a couple of early Adams miscues to score three in the top of the third and Post 146 wasn’t able to take the lead. Laney Weis singled in a run to bring Adams within 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth, but the team went down in order in the bottom of the seventh.

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While Adams head coach Tom Clements gave credit to LaCrescent, he was quick to voice his frustration of how the Legion softball tournament was set up in its second year of existence.

“I’m very, very upset with the way that the state Legion is running their softball league program. They’re allowing teams that refuse to play league games in the tournament. In other states, you have to play so many league games to play in the tournament,” Clements said. “Not everybody in our district played. One backed out, and one never played any league games and was allowed to go to the tournament. I just don’t think that’s right. I don’t want to take anything away from (LaCrescent) and they’re a really good ball club, but I’m just saying that I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years and you always have to play league games to get into a league tournament. That does upset me.”

Weis struck out 10 while allowing just two hits, but she walked three in the loss. She’s learning more and more about the importance of the little things in big games.

“These games build me up quite a bit,” Weis said. “The closer games are the ones that count and they’re the ones that we remember. Games like this are harder on your mind, but it really works you.”

The younger players on Adams’ team had the opportunity to learn from Southland grad Bailey Johnson, who played shortstop and went 0-for-2 with a walk on Thursday. Johnson played volleyball and softball at Rochester Community and Technical College last year and she’ll be playing softball at St. Mary’s University in Winona next spring.

Johnson enjoyed her last summer with her former Southland teammates and she’s looking forward to continuing her college opportunity in the spring.

“It was really fun to see how much these girls have grown in the last year,” Johnson said. “I hope they keep working hard and grow as leaders. Being a leader is the biggest thing. They’re super young and someone’s got to step up and be the leader.”

Weis, who will be a freshman this fall, was bummed out to miss out on the state tournament, but she’s not going to be taking it easy any time soon.

“I try to pitch every day, but volleyball and basketball take a few nights a week too. I usually get Fridays off,” Weis said. “I don’t like to have a break, I like to stay busy and I’ll keep pitching.

LaCrescent 003  100  0  –  4  2  2

Adams 002  001  0  –  3  2  2

Adams pitching: Laney Weis (L) 7 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 R, 3 ER, 10 K, HBP

Adams hitting: Riana Ulven, 1-for-2, R; Laney Weis, 1-for-2, RBI, BB; Clara Timm, 0-for-3; Bailey Johnson, 0-for-2, BB; Juliette Matheis, 0-for-3; Haylee Lowe, 0-for-3; Shannon Kiefer, 0-for-3, R; Abby Sorgatz, 0-for-2; Bria Nelsen, 0-for-2, R, BB

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