MACA softball beats JCC, Fairmont & Marshall

MACA softball showed winning qualities through much of the post-season.

Memorial Day weekend saw the Tigers shine. The Tigers won two post-season games on Saturday, May 24. Success continued on the Tuesday following. But the end of the road finally came. MACA was stopped shy of the state tournament. The end was in a 6-1 loss to Pipestone Area, ranked third in MN Class AA. The Tigers fell to Pipestone on Wednesday, 5/28, at Marshall.

We wrap up with a final record of 19-7. Congrats. Fans can savor the many rich memories of the spring of 2014. Spring was late in coming. But the schedule finally found its legs. Now the focus is on the MAHS graduation to be held tonight (Friday, 5/30). I wonder if Craig Peterson will be there.

 

Tigers 5, JCC 3

The Tigers outhit Jackson County Central, from down south, in carving out this 5-3 triumph. MACA had a line score of five runs, ten hits and one error. The JCC numbers were 3-5-1.

The MACA runs came in two innings: two in the third and three in the fifth. JCC's scoring came in the middle innings.

The game was another showcase for the potent bat of Lauren Reimers. Reimers was not to be stopped as she went four-for-four with two of her hits doubles. She drove in a run. Becca Holland also socked two doubles. Becca had a three-for-four line.

Kayla Pring's bat produced a double. Chelsey Ehleringer had a hit in her only at-bat. Brooke Johnson went one-for-four.

Kayla Pring pitched the distance. She struck out two batters and walked two. She gave up five hits and three runs (earned). The losing pitcher was Kelsey Kannenberg.

 

Tigers 6, Fairmont 4

Lauren Reimers attacked Fairmont pitching right away in the first inning. She strode to the plate with two of her mates on base. She showed her homer bat yet again. The round-tripper put the MACA girls on their way to a savory 6-4 win vs. this foe from down south by the Iowa border.

Reimers finished at two-for-four. Four other Tigers had two hits: Becca Holland, Abby Daly, Carlie Zimmel and Brooke Johnson. Nicole Strobel stroked a hit.

MACA was pretty in control after three innings, leading 6-1. The MACA line score was six runs, eleven hits and two errors. Fairmont's numbers: 4-9-0.

Pring turned in a workmanlike performance from the pitching rubber: She scattered nine hits, struck out one and walked two. The losing pitcher was Alyson Evesrman.

Two Fairmont batters had two hits: Courtney Guetter and Micaela Gochanour.

 

Tigers 2, Marshall 1

This game was marked by suspense. Either of these "Tiger" teams could have won. But it was our Tigers who prevailed thanks to the single that Abby Daly delivered in the bottom of the seventh. That base hit drove in the winning run. The Tigers stayed alive with this 2-1 win over the Marshall Tigers on Saturday, 5/24.

Daly's base hit was to right field.

Pring put her pitching arm to work again. She fanned three batters, walked just one and allowed five hits and the one Marshall run. She out-dueled Miranda Fischer.

MACA scored one run each in the second and seventh innings. The lone Marshall run was plated in the sixth.

Morris Area Chokio Alberta overcame three errors while Marshall had two. We were outhit by the Marshall Tigers 5-3. The mere three MACA hits were no matter - we won! Daly, Brooke Johnson and Nicole Strobel had the MACA hits.

 

Notes on the media

According to the Willmar newspaper, three Marshall batters each had one hit, but in the boxscore we see Marshall with five hits. Discrepancies like this are not uncommon in the Willmar paper, which crams stuff in so drastically, reading glasses are barely enough to try to consume it.

When will the day come, when all these teams can find their own reliable online homes where we can get info and see photos? A reminder to the schools: we're in the year 2014.

Why couldn't the two Saturday wins by MACA softball be covered in the Tuesday Willmar paper, not belatedly on Wednesday? KMS won two post-season softball games on that Saturday, and Tuesday's Willmar paper included a nice headline and article trumpeting that. Our MACA Tigers accomplished the same thing. Why were we not in print?

The Willmar paper does not publish on Memorial Day (Monday). Through my newspaper career in Morris, I always found it difficult dealing with sports around Memorial Day weekend. The world around us slows down. Coaches can disappear to their free-time destinations. The newspaper schedule changes to accommodate the Monday holiday.

And yet there is lots of important spring sports activity, including games played on the holiday weekend itself. The solution here is simple: the coaches have to take the bull by the horns! The coaches need to find out how to get info to the various media outlets in an effective way. If you have to, write some sentences and paragraphs yourself and email to the various outlets. Communicate! Don't just disappear and then complain later when you find there are some lapses in coverage.

In my opinion, coach Mary Holmberg of the Tigers should have shown the initiative to find out what was needed to get her team's Saturday wins covered in the Tuesday Willmar paper. Two post-season wins are a big deal - at least I think so.

It's a cop-out for coaches to say "I don't have time."
When I was at the Morris paper, the track coaches faxed meet information from pieces of paper that had the rough info jotted down via pen or pencil. Pencil actually isn't advised for faxing. There was a Morris coach named Steve Harter with whom I went back and forth on this, and after reminding him for about the fourth time not to use pencil, he blew up at me. He was not a successful coach.

My memo to the track coaches would be this: Don't just jot the rough info, instead write sentences and paragraphs that explain everything clearly. It's not that much more work!
Faxing rough info is risky. The last year I was at the Morris paper, I saw the Willmar paper screw up by saying a certain MACA relay team made state. It did not. It finished second in section. Only the first place relay teams make state. One of the Morris coaches had jotted "the first and second place finishers make state." That only applies to individuals. The Willmar writer got confused. The glitch could have been avoided if only the track coaches had presented the info clearly in sentences and paragraphs. Isn't it just common sense?

Post-season spring sports can be complicated. A media worker can be confused. For example, the softball tournament is double-elimination but only after the first round. Double-elimination always makes things complicated. The media people need more help from the coaches. You shouldn't make us scratch and claw to get the info. Besides, it's in your interests to get good coverage for your student-athletes.

Don't play "hard to get" and then complain later about the coverage. In fact, follow the example of Mark Torgerson who independently puts his teams' info online. In the spring he uses the "Minnesota scores" website. How about a link to that stuff from the radio station website? It could be sponsored for a token fee. How about Bremer Bank doing that?

 

Will H.S. principal be at graduation?

So, the Morris Area graduation is tonight (Friday). What a gala affair. Again, I wonder if our principal who is on paid leave will be there. Reportedly, some school staff think he's viable enough, still, to consult on school matters. This is what sources tell me. I'll quote from an email:

 

Apparently some MAHS staff members are consulting with (Craig Peterson) relative to school and policy issues. Is that legal? He is on "unrequested leave" after all, but is still being paid. A very gray area, me thinks.

 

I guess the trial for the principal is set for August. At county fair-time?

My opinion is that the charges against him are a case of prosecutorial overreach. If I'm wrong and he lands in prison, my cynicism will be furthered. We will find we can't trust high school principals any more than we can trust Catholic priests.

Will Morris Area teachers continue to seek Peterson for consultation even if he's in prison? I can just see this: Peterson sitting across one of those tables and speaking to a visitor through a telephone.

Seriously, in theory he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Peterson may be found innocent but I would still be tremendously ticked off at him. Look at what this incident has done to the school year. It was disrupting from a practical standpoint and (I presume) monetary standpoint, besides being just plain tawdry (to the max). Could the Apostolic Christian folks ever welcome the guy back as principal? Those folks believe in everything being decent and proper.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com