Warriors shut out Bears

KEOSAUQUA — Regional tournament time is when you have to be at your sharpest, and that’s exactly how Van Buren County looked on the defensive side of the diamond on Monday night.

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The Warriors hosted Danville in the Class 2A Region 2 final, and about an hour and 15 minutes after first pitch, VBC was walking off the field with a shut out win.

Senior pitcher Addison Brauns dealt in the circle all night long. She threw a complete game one-hitter, giving up just one knock and one walk, while striking out six batters.

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“She just threw great,” said VBC head coach Randy Smith. “And our defense was solid. If you make a couple of errors, then your pitching doesn’t look as good.”

Van Buren County led 1-0 after three innings, then added three in the bottom of the fourth. Aida Troutman hit an RBI double, and Kaylee Snowgren knocked in two with a single to put the Warriors up four.

“We wanted to do this for (our seniors),” Snowgren said after the win. “We planned Danville in our last home game, and we tried to get a win for them to walk off, and then we figured out that we had another home game, and we were like, ‘alright, we just have to do it again.’”

Danville put the lead runner on in the top of the seventh, and a Bear batter sent a deep fly ball to left field that was tracked down by Ali Pedretti to keep things under control. Brauns cruised for the next two outs, and VBC closed out the victory.

“I wanted it to be hit to me, but I was nervous because it was really high,” Pedretti said. “I had to wait a little bit, but I worked out.

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Troutman went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the win. Snowgren was 1-for-2 with a double, and Ashlynn Huff finished with one RBI.

VBC (9-12) moved on to play second-ranked Louisa-Muscatine (26-6) in Wednesday night’s regional quarterfinal.

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