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Chisago Lakes 4

North Branch 2

Revenge is sweet, especially when it comes against your main rival. After losing to the North Branch Vikings earlier in the season, last Thursday, the Chisago Lakes Wildcats stretched their winning streak to five with a 4-2 win over the Vikings. The win also moved the ‘Cats overall record to 11-9 on the year.

Chisago scored all four of their runs in the second and third innings.

Scoreless in the bottom of the second, Ariel Novak got things started with a lead-off double, followed by an RBI single by Whitney Slagerman, putting the ‘Cats in front 1-0.

One inning later, the Wildcats struck for three more runs, pushing their lead to 4-0. This time, a walk to Morgan Baumgard kicked off the inning. After Baumgard was sacrificed to second, four straight hits from Katie Reed, Rachel Nelson (senior) and Slagerman pushed across the runs, giving the Wildcats a commanding lead. The RBI by Slagerman was her second of the game.

That was significant considering Slagerman had the task of keeping North Branch off the board as well. After doing just that through the first five innings, the Vikings finally got to the junior in the sixth. Batting with two outs, two singles to right brought in two runs, trimming the Chisago lead to 4-2.

But that was as close as North Branch got as Slagerman and the Wildcat “D” tightened up after that. Still leading by two in the top of the seventh, Slagerman struck out the first two batters she faced before getting a ground ball to end the game. Slagerman finished with nine strikeouts over seven innings of work. She allowed just two hits.

Meanwhile, Chisago’s offense picked up six hits in the game. Novak and Slagerman each finished with two hits. Slagerman added two RBI’s.

The game was the last regular season contest for both squads. Up next for North Branch, the 7 seed in section 7AAA, is the first round of the section tournament against second-seeded Grand Rapids. For Chisago, they are seeded 11th in class 4AAA. They will face Irondale in the first round.

“”Eleven playing six is a good match-up for us,” said Steve Fisher, Chisago Lakes head girls softball coach. “In years past, that six seed has been rated in state and that’s not the case this year. We have a shot. It just depends on what team comes to play.”

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