Chickasaw girls escape in eighth inning
New Hampton softball defeated ninth-ranked Beckman Catholic in the regional semifinal round Friday night, but it took an eighth-inning run to do so.Ahead in the game 6-1 after five innings, the Chickasaws let the Trailblazers back into the contest with two sixth-inning runs and Beckman tied the score in the bottom of the seventh. In the eighth inning Abby Gossling was safe as a bunt fell just out of the reach of the Beckman pitcher and despite a double play by Beckman that put two outs on the board for the Chickasaws, Gossling survived, advanced and scored on a hit by Lauren Frerichs.New Hampton still had to hold the Trailblazers in the bottom half of the eighth and they retired the batters in order for the 7-6 win."Games like this push us to become better softball players," Chickasaw senior Katherine Hemesath said after the win. "And it proves that we're a better team than our record shows."The regional final will be played Monday at Van Horne, and it'll be a tough one as the Chickasaws tangle with top-ranked Benton Community at 7 p.m.