Notre Dame softball team falls to De Soto in Class 3 sectional

The Notre Dame softball players met the De Soto players in the middle of the field and quickly exchanged the traditional end-of-game handshakes and high fives following their Class 3 sectional Wednesday night.

The De Soto players raced off to left field to celebrate their 5-0 upset win over Notre Dame, whose season ended short of the final four for the first time in five years.

The Bulldogs walked out to right field. They sat and listened to coach Jeff Graviett for a while. Then after Graviett and the underclassmen left, the rest just sat and cried. A while later they got up and walked to center field, where they hugged and cried some more.

Then more than 20 minutes later, the players made their way back to the pitching circle where they were met once again by the team that had ended their season.

"They just came over and, very nice, congratulated us and said we'd have a very good season," Notre Dame senior Brianne Sanders said. "Just great sports. Appreciate that a lot coming from that team. You don't see that very often, but they're a very good team."

De Soto baserunner Deanna Peters scores behind Notre Dame's Savanna Ayers during the third inning of Wednesday's Class 3 sectional game. (Kristin Eberts)

It was De Soto, which had been led to victory by the play of three freshmen, trying to comfort the nine Notre Dame seniors, eight of whom started for the Bulldogs this season.

"We said a Hail Mary together and just kind of united," Sanders said. "Win or lose, you know, we're here for one thing and that's mainly to play hard for one goal. It's how you react to stuff, that's the main purpose of the game."

De Soto, which entered the game 16-10 and was the No. 2 seed in its district, pulled off the surprise win with a well-thought out then well-executed plan.

De Soto's Deanna Peters singled to start the game then never hesitated on her way to third base when the next De Soto batter sacrificed. Notre Dame tried to throw her out at third but threw away the ball, which allowed Peters to score.

"They got it being aggressive," Graviett said about the run. "Hearing the way they reacted, I think that was their game plan. If they could get on, try to go first to third on a bunt. They kind of stole one from us, and I think that frustrated [Notre Dame starter Katie Bond] a little bit and she got flat."

Notre Dame's Sadie Schaefer makes a catch as teammate Ashton Elfrink ducks out of the way during the fifth inning Wednesday.

Bond got the next batter to ground out before freshman shortstop Brittney Krodinger doubled and freshman third baseman Bethany Canada homered to give De Soto a 3-0 lead.

"They were really good about staying off my riseball," Bond said. "That's been what everyone's been striking out on. They knew to lay off of it, and they got turned on the ball. They came out ready to hit. I tip my hat to them. They were the best team we've played all season."

De Soto's defense and starting pitcher Courtney Krodinger, Brittney's twin sister, took the field with a plan to slow down Notre Dame's prolific offense.

"I knew that they were a strong bunting team and that they were fast, so I had to pitch them away and outside," Courtney Krodinger said.

The Dragons positioned themselves to take away the bunt from Notre Dame. The third baseman, shortstop and second baseman all crowded around the circle to dare the Bulldogs to swing, and the outfield played shallow as well. It was a tactic Notre Dame had not seen this season.

Notre Dame's Ashton Elfrink doubles during the seventh inning Wednesday. (Kristin Eberts)

"I heard a little bit and was doing some scouting to kind of prepare for what they were going to do with the infield," Graviett said. "It kind of really shocked me how they played the outfield, which today paid off for them."

De Soto added a run in the top of the third inning on Brittney Krodinger's RBI single. Notre Dame put two runners on with one out in the bottom of the inning, but back-to-back fly outs by Nos. 2 and 3 hitters Hali Rendleman and Summer Burger ended the threat.

The first four batters in Notre Dame's lineup were a combined 0 for 9 in the game, and 14 of the Bulldogs' 21 outs made came via strikeout or fly out.

"She was jamming us early on," Graviett said. "She must have had a lot of movement early on. These girls don't strike out consistently very often, so you've got to give her a lot of credit for that. They had a great game plan and they stuck with it. It really paid off today."

Burger batted with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning. After hitting a ball home-run distance but foul down the left-field line, the senior shortstop lined a ball into center that would've dropped in front of the center fielder against most defenses. Peters, however, was playing shallow enough to catch the ball at her feet and throw to second for an inning-ending double play.

"They play us 10 times, I'd like to think we're going to take advantage and burn them with the shallow," Graviett said. "But the play of the game ended up being because they were shallow in center field. They got a line drive double play with the bases loaded."

Courtney Krodinger allowed just one more Notre Dame batter to reach base over the final two innings on her way to shutting out Notre Dame.

She became one of just two pitchers to do that in the four years the Notre Dame seniors have worn a Bulldogs uniform, a span of 122 games. The other was Nevada's Christian Novak in last season's state semifinal.

"Their pitcher pitched amazing tonight," Sanders said. "She was just working in and out. She did awesome. We started adjusting on her toward the end of the game, but their team just pulled it through. They played a very good game."

Notre Dame finished the season 26-2. Its only other loss came against Festus, the team De Soto upset in its district championship win.

"It made us think Notre Dame was actually a really good team," said Brittney Krodinger, who was aware of Notre Dame's record. "We had to come out on our 'A' game, and we did. We shut them down for the whole game."

Both teams eventually headed back to their dugouts after their unusual meeting, which ended with the players from both teams joining hands and praying. The De Soto players headed to their bus, while the Notre Dame players lingered in the dugout, their emotions coming out in a mixture of tears, laughter and occasional flashes of anger and disbelief.

"Not for any other team to say they don't want this, but this team -- we've played together since we were little," Bond said. "We've been together all since we were little kids. I don't only walk away from this team with teammates, I walk away with 11 sisters, and I'll never forget them."

De Soto 301 001 0 -- 5 7 0

Notre Dame 000 000 0 -- 0 5 1

WP -- Courtney Krodinger. LP -- Katie Bond. HR -- Bethany Canada (D), Brittney Krodinger (D). 2B -- B. Krodinger (D), Ashton Elfrink 2 (ND). Multiple hits -- De Soto: Deanna Peters 2-4, B. Krodinger 3-3, Canada 2-2; Notre Dame: Elfrink 2-3. Records -- De Soto 17-10, Notre Dame 26-2.