Raiders rue errors in regional loss to Fall Creek

The Arcadia softball team put together a solid year by almost any reasonable metric, but the way their spring ended will surely leave a sour taste heading into the offseason.

The second-seeded Raiders (19-5) saw their 2026 season brought to an end with a frustrating 5-4 loss at home to the seventh-seeded Fall Creek Crickets (11-17) in their Division Three regional semifinal tilt last Tuesday.

In a harbinger of fielding issues that plagued both teams throughout the evening, Arcadia ceded a 1-0 lead to the Crickets when the latter scored the game’s opening run on an error in the top of the second. Another Raider error led to a run in the fourth, and Fall Creek added another on a sac fly to make it 3-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Arcadia was the benefactor of a run scored on an error, followed by a Sacia Boland RBI single to slice the deficit to 3-2. Another Cricket sac fly and yet another run scored on an error extended their lead back to 5-2 in the top of the fifth.

The Raiders tallied additional runs on errors in both the fifth and sixth innings, but they failed to score the equalizer in the bottom of the seventh to save their season.

Layna Wozney went 2 for 3 with a walk and a run scored for Arcadia. In the circle, she pitched seven innings in which she gave up four hits, three walks and five unearned runs.

“We didn’t play well,” said Arcadia head coach Dave Bjorge. “We had way too many errors and it ended up costing us the game.”

When all was said and done this spring, the Raiders posted a solid 19-win season. However, finishing a game shy of winning a conference championship and mistake-laden playoff exit meant there would be no hardware to add to the trophy case.

“I thought overall it was a good season, but I feel like we could have done more,” Bjorge said. “We have a very talented group of girls but thought we sometimes got complacent and that seemed to bite us at times.”

Arcadia brings back much of their core from this group for 2027 as they look to take the next step as a program, though they bid farewell to seniors Tessah Ely, Kiley Fitzpatrick and Breanna Gardow.

“This group of young ladies has been great. Tessah, Kiley and Breanna will be missed very much,” Bjorge said. “I am very proud of the growth these ladies have shown over the years.”