Oh my, the spigot opened up for MACA run-scoring. Those poor Knights: they were on the short end of the scores 21-9 and 13-4. Seems like one-sided games are a problem in the diamond sports this spring.
The headline on my "Morris of Course" blog site is "Charlie Hanson excels with golf clubs, trumpet!" Let's put music up on a plane with sports! The Monday night band concert and ice cream social was terrific. My post also covers conference track and field, the baseball team's convincing sweep of WCA, and our softball team's crushing of Montevideo. Please click to read with the permalink below, and thanks. How much of this action has been covered to date by the Stevens County Times?
Tigers 13, West Central Area 4
So this was the first game of the softball twin bill: the 13-4 score with MACA looking pretty impressive. We got a lot of mileage out of our ten hits. WCA kept pace with nine. But we sure had players scurry around the bases more often. Each team had two errors.
The Thursday success was significant for coach Mary Holmberg's squad: it brought our ninth straight conference championship! Holmberg is in her 44th year at the helm of the orange and black. Yours truly covered the team in its very first year! Could someone give me credit for that? I'm still at it, all these years later, just like coach Holmberg.
Who will outlast whom? I first started covering Tiger sports in a formal way in 1972. Richard Nixon was president. Holmberg's softball coaching tenure goes back to Jimmy Carter. Carter is still alive, rather miraculously I'd say. Remember disco music?
Unfortunately the Tigers' conference is not known to be real high-caliber. This is worthy of mention simply from the standpoint that we need to be tested better in regular season play, so as to be more competitive with the southern Minnesota teams. Darn those southern Minnesota teams! A real nemesis in most seasons.
The Tigers sprang out to a 6-0 lead over WCA in the first three innings of Game 1. We moved forward with four runs in the sixth and three in the seventh. WCA did all its run-scoring in the fifth and sixth frames. Haley Kill was our complete game pitcher. Zero walks and eight strikeouts affirm her top-notch form. WCA did get to her for the nine hits. Two of the runs Kill allowed were unearned.
WCA had two pitchers working from the pitching circle: Lily Mahoney and Claire Stark. Mahoney was the pitcher of record. She was hurt by six walks issued. Four of the runs she allowed were unearned. Stark walked just one and struck out four.
Lauren Hottovy had the MACA team-best hit total of three. Brianna Marty and Nora Boyle each had two hits. These Tigers each had one: Kortney Sanasack, Cate Kehoe and Haley Kill. Two WCA Knight players each had two hits: Alaina Sykora and Addison Staples. These Knights each connected for one: Madison Fagre, Izza Puchalski, Brinley Ulrich, Zoey Fuhrman and Jaclynn Nelson.
Game 2: Tigers 21, WCA 9
The Tigers produced a bushel-full of runs in the fourth inning: 13. Wow! We had no problem out-hitting the Knights in this game: it was a 16-9 advantage. We committed three errors, the Knights four.
Lauren Hottovy impressed in this game too: two-for-three. She was one of several Tigers with multiple-hit games. So Brianna Marty was two-for-four, Cate Kehoe two-for-three, Haley Kill two-for-two, Nora Boyle two-for-three, Ryla Koehler two-for-three and Mackenzie Konz making a special impression with her perfect three-for-three. MacKenzie Anderson added a hit to the mix.
Boyle and Kill split the pitching duties for the Tigers, Boyle with 3.1 innings, Kill with 1.2. Boyle set down four batters on strikes, Kill set down three. The two walked just one batter between them. Lily Mahoney took the loss for West Central Area.
Baseball: Litchfield 7, Tigers 6
Ouch! The Tigers succumbed to a four-run rally in the seventh and last inning. The disappointment was felt at the Morris diamond, where the Tigers squared off against those Dragons of Litchfield. Think "green," that's the Litch color.
The Dragons breathed fire with a comeback on the scoreboard. So the outcome was a 7-6 losing score for our Tigers. So the Tigers were up 6-3 entering the fateful seventh frame. We got to bat in the bottom of the seventh but put up a goose egg.
Our line score was six runs, nine hits and four errors. The Litch numbers were 7-8-0. Errors will haunt. The Tigers outhit Litch 9-8.
Riley Asmus had a hit and drew a walk. He scored two runs. Andrew Marty had a hit, drew a walk and scored two runs. Kyle Fehr drew two walks, scored a run and drove in one. Ozzy Jerome packed a punch at two-for-three with four RBIs and a walk. Trevor Buss rapped a hit. Johnny Kleindl had a hit and an RBI. Drew Huebner worked the pitcher for two walks. Owen Anderson had a two-for-three line including a double, plus he drew a walk and scored a run. Tyler Berlinger had a hit and was hit-by-pitch. He drew a walk also.
Riley Asmus and Jackson Hallman shared our pitching with Hallman taking the loss. (The West Central Tribune spelled Riley's last name "Ausmus." Erratum.)
Litch's winning pitcher was Caden Besemer while Calvin Jones got the save. Jack McCann was a standout at bat for the Dragons with his two-for-two numbers, two runs scored, three RBIs, two walks received, a hit-by-pitch and two stolen bases.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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