Eagles set for regional final showdown with Bulldogs

Columbia’s Brina Rujawitz delivers a pitch Wednesday against Freeburg. For more photos from the game, click here. (Alan Dooley photo)

The Columbia softball team won 6-3 over Freeburg in a Class 3A regional semifinal Wednesday at Waterloo High School, setting up a showdown with top-seeded Waterloo in the regional final on Monday.

The Eagles and Midgets had split their season series, and both teams came out swinging as the score was 2-2 after one inning.

The second inning was similar, with Freeburg briefly taking a 3-2 lead before Columbia answered with a run.

Columbia starting pitcher Brina Rujawitz settled down from there, and although Freeburg threatened several times, it was the Eagles who added a run in each of the next three innings to run the score to 6-3. Rujawitz went the distance in the pitcher’s circle for the win.

The offensive highlight was a home run to left-center field by senior infielder Kaylee Bastien in the fifth inning to give Columbia some breathing room at 5-3. Bastien went 4-for-4 on the day.

Courtney Weilbacher added three hits for the Eagles, who improved to 25-3 on the season. Columbia dropped a 9-4 contest to the Bulldogs (33-1) back on March 30 in the championship of the Monroe County Tournament.

The two county rivals will meet again, this time with a regional championship on the line. Gametime is 3:30 p.m. Monday. Waterloo defeated Althoff on Tuesday, 10-0, to advance to the final. Kasey Bradley threw her third no-hitter of the season in the win.

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Corey Saathoff

Corey is the editor of the Republic-Times. He has worked at the newspaper since 2004, and currently resides in Columbia. He is also the principal singer-songwriter and plays guitar in St. Louis area country-rock band The Trophy Mules.
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