Ellsworth softball rode a solid pitching performance and three-run homer from Aliza Acker to a playoff win over St. Croix Central 9-5. The win booked a date with Rice Lake, the team that has eliminated Ellsworth in back-to-back seasons, and the Warriors took the matchup again, 10-2.

“We were a little anxious with our at-bats,” Head Coach Tom Diercks said after the SCC win. “Got some things to build on, but it’s still a good win.”

The bats were slow the first time through the order, but Acker crushed a three-run shot to open the scoring in the third inning. Aaliyah Huppert then brought in a run with a single. Although the Ellsworth offense took some time to get going, Acker had one of her best pitching performances to keep SCC off the board for the first five innings.

“You know sooner or later we’re going to break open, start hitting,” Diercks said. “That was huge just to shut them down right away.”

The defense came right along with the pitching, avoiding blunders all game long.

“It was one of our better games we’ve played defensive-wise,” Acker said.

“I thought we played a lot more heads-up this game,” senior catcher Delaney Johnson said.

Acker and Johnson recently earned the right to call their own pitches during the games. Johnson said this change went a long way to making the duo comfortable.

“It makes me feel better when our fielding is really strong,” Acker said. “It gives me more leeway.”

Ellsworth then got a matchup that Johnson mentioned wanting before the season even got underway. Rice Lake ended the last two Panther seasons, and the Warriors made it three years in a row with a 10-2 win.

Freshman Brinklee Graetz homered, but it was not enough to take down a Rice Lake team that went 7-7 in a Big Rivers Conference which features some of the area’s largest schools. The Panthers gave it everything they could in the Regional Final; however, Rice Lake proved to be too much to handle.

Ellsworth’s senior class had as good of a season as any coach could hope for. Acker, Johnson, Karli Gutting and Huppert are the team’s four leaders in runs batted in. The fifth and final member, EmmaJo Meier, pitched in some key innings in huge games.

While they may not have had the fairytale ending, this Panther squad marked another strong and exciting year of Ellsworth softball.