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Chisago Lakes 8, Cambridge 1

Behind a 12-strikeout performance by pitcher Whitney Slagerman and three hits and three RBIs by her battery mate Nicole Oehme, the Wildcat softball team won its season opener over the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets 8-1 at Cambridge on Tuesday, April 4.

The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. In the first inning, Katie Johnson singled Ariel Novak in with the first run of the game. After a single by Slagerman, Oehme singled in Johnson to put the Wildcats up 2-0. Oehme knocked in Johnson, again, with a double in the third inning to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.

The Wildcats put the game away in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded, Andrea Nelson drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Novak drove in two runs with a two-out single to make the score 6-1. The Wildcats added two more runs in the seventh. One of the runs scored after Oehme tripled and Jenny Reed drove her in with an infield hit. The final score was Chisago Lakes 8, Cambridge-Isanti 1.

Oehme led the Wildcats with three hits and three RBIs and Novak, Johnson and Reed had two hits and one RBI each.

Chisago Lakes 3, St. Francis 0

The Wildcats won their second game of the season, this time getting 11 strikeouts from Whitney Slagerman as they scratched out a 3-0 victory over the St. Francis Fighting Saints at St. Francis Thursday, April 6.

The Wildcats scored an unearned run in the second inning. Katie Johnson struck out, but reached first on a passed ball. Another passed ball and a wild pitch put her on third and Nicole Oehme singled Johnson home to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats added to their lead in the third as Karina Swanberg led off the inning with a single. Two outs later, Ariel Novak drove in Swanberg with a single to double the Wildcats lead.

The Wildcats added another insurance run in the sixth. Slagerman reached base on an error and Jenny Reed doubled to left-center to score Slagerman. The Wildcats shut the Fighting Saints down for the last two innings, so the final score remained Chisago Lakes 3, St. Francis 0.

Novak led the Wildcats with three hits on the day.

“That was a good pitchers’ duel,” said Wildcat head coach Steve Fisher, “and Whitney really pitched well again. St. Francis only had two hits and never got a runner past second base.”

The Wildcats played two games on Saturday, April 8, but results for those games were not available at press time. You can read about those games in next week’s edition of the Chisago County Press.

The Wildcats have just one game on the schedule this week – they were scheduled to play Spring Lake Park at home Tuesday, April 11. They play again at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at Irondale.

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