Softball: Big 1st inning propels Tautges, Warriors to win

Brainerd Warriors — Brainerd Warrior Mya Tautges slides safely into home against Moorhead Tuesday, May 16, 2023, at Don Adamson Field.

By Jeremy Millsop

May 16, 2023 at 8:00 PM

BRAINERD — With her older sister Olivia Tautges in attendance, Mya Tautges had a bit more zip Tuesday, May 16.

The sophomore struck out 10 Moorhead Spuds over seven innings to pitch the Brainerd Warriors to a 3-1 victory at Adamson Field.

“Mya pitched a heck of a game,” Warriors head coach Shane Jordan said. “She’s so good. She’s a gamer. I know OT (Former Warrior pitcher Olivia Tautges) was here today so I think Mya was throwing a little extra hard because big sister was here.

Brainerd Warrior girls playing softball — Brainerd Warrior second baseman Ella Chaussee fields the ball Tuesday, May 16, 2023, against Moorhead at Don Adamson Field.

“She gets better at hitting her spots as the game goes on. Early in the game we kind of have to find what the umps are giving us and once we find that out we take advantage of it. Because Mya can hit her spots she looks better because of it.”

Tautges scattered three singles, walked two and hit one batter for the victory. The Spuds’ lone run came in the top of the fourth. Moorhead’s Taylor Kressin singled, but reached third on a miss play in the field. Madden Borgenrief was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners. She promptly stole second before Avery Babolian singled in Kressin.

Tautges then found her grove and struck out the next two batters to end the threat.

From there, she retired the next nine batters she faced in order to secure the win.

Tautges threw 109 pitches with 69 going for strikes.

“They were swinging at high pitches and the ump was calling inside,” Brainerd catcher Sophie Mattson said. “That’s what we’ve been pitching all year so that helped us a lot. I feel like they were crowding the plate a little, even with their left-handers, so we kind of jammed them.

“I’m just expecting fast from Mya. Plus, she’s good at hitting her spots.”

Brainerd handed their pitcher an early lead despite finishing with just five hits. Josie Kappes led off with a single and stole second before Mya Tautges walked. Lacy Busch reached on an error, but scored Kappes and Tautges. Molly Wieland then doubled to score Busch for the 3-0 advantage. Wieland’s double was the only extra-base hit of the game.

“Getting that lead, mentally it helps,” Jordan said. “It held up today. After we got there in the first inning, I was thinking we’d get three every inning, but I really think it just helped Mya settle in.

“We’ve played nine games in a row without a practice. We practiced (Monday), but again, it was chock-full of a bunch of things to try and work on so now Wednesday and Thursday we can really narrow our focus a little bit and hitting is one of those things we need to work on. We know we can hit the ball. We put 20 some hits on Champlin Park and a whole bunch of hits on Blaine so we know we can hit the best pitchers in the state. We just have to refocus and practice is always good. I’m excited to get some practice in.”

Kappes finished 2-3 with a run for Brainerd’s only multi-hit player.

“We’ve had one practice in the last nine games so I think just practice more and get some reps,” Mattson said. “Our confidence is high. Our defense has gotten way better throughout the season so that’s given us confidence because defense wins games. We’re pretty confident going into sections.”

The Warriors hoped to expand their lead in the fifth. Autumn Larson singled with one out and was pitch ran for. Kappes singled to move the runner to second. Mya Tautges then singled but the play at the plate went Moorhead’s way.

“We always like to be aggressive,” Jordan said. “We like to make them have to throw it, catch it and make a tag. All we have to do is run fast. We know we could have run the bases a little bit better as well. We’re fast enough to make those plays, but we kind of cut some corners and didn’t really run the bases as well as we would like to, but I love to be aggressive and I’m proud of the kids for going all out and trying to make a play because we want to be aggressive and force them to make plays.”