C1D3SB: Bernie rolling through opposition en route to first title in 5 years

The Bernie High School softball team celebrates its MSHSAA Class 1 District 3 championship on Thursday after beating Bloomfield at Bernie.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

BERNIE – As the 2024 MSHSAA softball postseason continues, it will remain to be seen as to whether there is a better softball squad in Missouri than Bernie High School, however, currently, there can not be many that are more productive offensively.

The Mules routed Bloomfield 15-0 on Thursday to win the Class 1 District 3 Tournament at Bernie, and the victory capped a five-game stretch in which the Mules scored a total of 105 runs.

“The (team) has worked hard all year,” veteran Bernie coach Brad Botsch said following the victory. “I’ve seen improvement throughout the year.”

Bernie (21-9-1) has now won 12 consecutive games after opening the year with a 9-9-1 start, which included a stretch in which Bernie lost five consecutive games.

“We are displaying a lot of confidence and growth,” Botsch continued. “That is what we expect.”

The District title was the program’s first since 2019 and this spring was Bernie’s 10th winning season in the past 13 years. However, in those three seasons, the Mules were just a combined three games under .500.

Bernie boomed out 12 hits, including three from sophomore Lexi Dillinger, who also had three runs scored and a pair of RBI.

Mule junior Kealea Powell also had three hits, as well as one run, and two RBI while junior Macie Botsch (three walks), senior Abbygail Powell (two hits, one run, two RBI), sophomore Mikalyn Kirkwood (one hit, one run, one RBI), junior Rylie Powell (one RBI, one run), sophomore Mackenzie Meese (one hit, two runs), senior Elicia Freeman (two hits, one run, two RBI), and sophomore Kalli Mason (one walk, one run) were also productive.

Abbygail Powell, Freeman, Dillinger, and Kirkwood each hit doubles while Kealea Powell had a triple and two stolen bases.

Dillinger and Botsch also had a couple of base thefts while Abbygail Powell, junior Kerri Botsch, and Rylie Powell also stole bases.

Sophomore Blair Pleimling threw all three innings in the win and allowed just one hit, no runs, one walk, and three strikeouts.

Wildcat sophomore Kilee Schott had the lone hit for her squad while sophomore Maybree Miller drew a walk in the loss.

Bloomfield sophomore Kendall Phillips struck out two Mules in 2 2/3 innings of work.

The Wildcats (8-12) won two postseason games for the first time in at least 15 seasons and matched the program’s most wins since 2021.

“We got here,” veteran Bloomfield coach Charlotte Phillips said of advancing to the title game. “I’m super proud of them.”

Bernie will face Plato (20-6) in the Class 1 Quarterfinal 3 on Tuesday (Time and location TBA).