BENSON -- By beating West Central South Conference rival Lac qui Parle Valley and Marshall Tuesday, Benson/Hancock advanced to the Section 3AA Final Four, which is double elimination.
No. 2-seed Benson/Hancock (16-4) opened play by clipping LQPV 11-5 before edging Marshall 4-1.
BOLD held off Morris 8-7 in Redwood Falls in the other first-round game.
The North and South will now cross bracket with Benson/Hancock facing Pipestone, the South's top seed, Saturday at 1 p.m. in Marshall.
First Round
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Benson/Hancock 11, Lac qui Parle Valley 5
The Brave/Owls led 6-5 going into the bottom of the fifth before scoring five runs on three hits and three Eagles' errors to pull away.
Winning pitcher Taylor Semler gave up four hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Sara Rajewsky singled twice and scored three times. Kendra Schmidgall and Megan Jepma had two hits each.
Tianna Tosel had a double and Brittany Long drove in two runs for Lac qui Parle Valley.
LQPV (2-17) 021 200 0 -- 5 4 4
Benson/Han. 302 150 x --11 12 2
HITTING - LQPV: Kenzie Clark 1-for-4, Tianna Tosel 1-for-4, 2b; Karley Weir 1-for-3, Brittany Long 1-for-3, 2 rbi ... Benson/Hancock: Tasha Wiebold 1-for-4, Sara Rajewsky 2-for-3, 3 runs; Brennan Hagen 1-for-4, rbi; Kendra Schmidgall 2-for-4, 2 rbi; Megan Jepma 2-for-3, rbi; Taylor Semler 1-for-3, rbi; Laura Hoffman 1-for-1, Julia Ahrndt 1-for-4, rbi
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- LQPV: Jordan Halvorson (L) 6-12-11-5-1-2 ... Benson/Hancock: Taylor Semler (W) 7-5-4-3-0-5
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BOLD 8, Morris 7
Taylor Ebnet went 3-for-4 and drove in a run and BOLD held off a late rally to advance.
Morris trailed 8-3 entering the bottom of the seventh before plating four runs to close within 8-7 with the tying run on third. But Warriors pitcher Brittany Nissen enticed a ground ball for the final out.
Nissen allowed five hits, while walking seven and striking out six.
Nissen and Alex Ebnet had two hits apiece. Nissen, Hillary Mages, Laura Padrnos and Raquel Amberg each drove in a run.
Mary Rentz had two hits, including a triple, and drove in two runs for Morris.
BOLD 010 061 0 -- 8 12 1
Morris (13-7) 020 010 4 -- 7 5 4
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HITTING - BOLD: Taylor Ebnet 3-for-4 2 rbi; Alex Ebnet 2-for-3; Hillary Mages 1-for-4, 2b, rbi; Brittany Dahlk 1-for-3; Brittany Nissen 2-for-3, 3b, rbi; Brenna Holwerda 1-for-4, rbi; Laura Padrnos 1-for-4, rbi; Raquel Amberg 1-for-4, rbi ... Morris: Dani Schultz 1-for-4; Mary Rentz 2-for-4, 3b, 2 rbi; Hannah Sayles 1-for-4; Holly Amundson 1-for-3
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- BOLD: Brittany Nissen (W) 7-5-7-6-7-6 ... Morris: Mackenzie Weatherly (L) 7-12-8-7-1-7
Marshall 7, Montevideo 3
No information was provided at press time.
Second Round
Benson/Hancock 4, Marshall 1
Taylor Semler tossed a four-hitter with no walks and three strikeouts.
Benson/Hancock collected five of its six hits off Tigers' starter Alyssa Netzke in the third to score four runs.
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Julia Ahrndt started the uprising with a single. Datrianna Jensen, Brennan Hagen and Megan Jepma followed with RBI hits. Hagen's single over the Marshall shortstop plated two base runners.
Netzke's double in the first was followed by a Bridget Bergstrom single for the Tigers' only run.
Marshall (12-9) 100 000 0 -- 1 4 3
Ben/Han. (16-4) 004 000 x -- 4 6 1
HITTING - Marshall: Alyssa Netzke 1-for-3, 2b, run; Bridget Bergstrom 1-for-3, rbi; Brooke Louwagie 1-for-3, Katherine Vogel 1-for-3 ... Benson/Hancock: Datrianna Jensen 1-for-3, rbi; Brennan Hagen 1-for-3, 2 rbi; Kendra Schmidgall 1-for-3, Megan Jepma 2-for-3, rbi; Julia Ahrndt 1-for-3
PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- Marhall: Alyssa Netzke (L) 7-6-4-0-1-5 ... Ben-son/Hancock: Taylor Semler (W) 7-4-1-1-0-3
