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North St. Paul 2, Chisago Lakes 1 (8 innings)

Rachel Nelson allowed just one earned run and Jenny Reed homered as the ninth-seeded Wildcats gave fourth-ranked and top-seeded North St. Paul all they could handle. But the Polars scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie and beat the Wildcats 2-1 in the opening round of the double elimination portion of the Section 7AAA Tournament Tuesday, May 22 at Blaine High School.

The Wildcats got on the board first. Jenny Reed, leading off the top of the fourth inning, blasted a pitch over the left-center field wall to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. The Polars answered with a solo home run of their own in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 1-1.

After allowing home runs, both pitchers seemed to settle down and held their opponents scoreless through the seventh inning, sending the game into extra innings. The Wildcats went down 1-2-3 in the top of the eighth. The Wildcat defense stumbled as the first two batters in the bottom of the eighth reached base on errors. A walk loaded the bases. The fourth batter of the inning popped out to third for the first out. The next batter singled to left, driving in the winning run and sending the Wildcats to a 2-1 defeat.

"We played a pretty solid game against one of the top teams in the state," said Wildcat head coach Herb Jangor. "Rachel pitched an outstanding game and our defense was flawless until the eighth inning. Our kids played hard, played together and played smart. This type of performance shows what our kids are capable of when they put their minds to it. We did have trouble getting the bat on the ball, but you have to take your hat off to the pitcher sometimes. The Polar pitcher is one of the top pitchers in the state."

Chisago Lakes 4, Hill-Murray 1 (8 innings)

Playing their second extra-inning game in a row, the Wildcat bats came alive as they erupted for three runs in the top of the eighth inning to beat the Hill-Murray Pioneers 4-1 at Blaine Thursday, May 24 to advance to the next round of the section tournament.

The Wildcats got on the board early. Mallory Schneider led of the game with a single. She advanced to second on Jenny Reed's sacrifice bunt and moved to third on Ariel Novak's groundout to third. Morgan Baumgard then doubled to right field to score Schneider and give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.

The score stayed that way till the seventh as both teams relied on good pitching and good defense to keep their opponent off the scoreboard. The Pioneers tied the game on three hits and a passed ball in the bottom of the seventh. They re-loaded the bases with one out, but Nelson got the next two batters to pop out, sending the game into extra innings.

The Wildcat offense came to life in the top of the eighth. Mallory Schneider led of the inning with a single and Jenny Reed again sacrificed her to second. Ariel Novak singled to score Schneider and give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. Baumgard singled to put runners on first and second with one out. Lisa Schommer then delivered a two-run double into the right-filed corner to put the Wildcats up 4-1.

In the bottom of the eighth, the first Pioneer batter flew out to right. A single, a pop out and another single put runners on first and second with two outs. Pitcher Rachel Nelson got the next batter to ground out to end the game and send the Wildcats into the next round of the tournament.

"We had chances to put this one away earlier," said Wildcat head coach Herb Jangor, "and we couldn't quite do it. But we stepped up and made big plays when we had to. Mallory Schneider had one of her better games, and Lisa Schommer came up with a clutch two-run double in the eighth to give us a nice workable cushion. We found a way to win, and hopefully the confidence we showed in this game will carry over into next season for our young team."

Stillwater 13, Chisago Lakes 3

The Wildcats ran into a buzzsaw later on Thursday, losing to the hard-hitting Stillwater Ponies 13-3 in a game shortened to five innings because of the ten-run rule. The loss knocked the Wildcats out of the section tournament and ended their season.

The Ponies scored nine runs on nine hits in the first two innings. Brittany Lofgren's two-run double in the bottom of the third pulled the Wildcats to within 9-2. But more Stillwater hits and some Wildcat fielding miscues led to three more Pony runs in the top of the fourth. Jenny Reed homered for the second time in three games to make the score 12-3 in favor of the Ponies. The Ponies added one more run in the fourth, then held the Wildcats scoreless over the last two innings to send the Wildcats down to defeat.

"I was impressed with Stillwater," said Wildcat head coach Herb Jangor. "They're a seasoned team and have been deep into the playoffs a lot of times. We're young and we came off an emotional win against Hill-Murray. We didn't do much right in the first two innings. We settled down and played and pitched better after that. I think this is only the third time in the last ten years the Wildcats have been this deep in the playoffs. Our next step is to play past Memorial Day. We lose four seniors - Morgan Baumgard, Brittany Lofgren, Jenny Reed and Bailey Eichten - who have had a huge impact on our program over the past few years. They helped make sure we had fun and played the game the right way. But we've got a good, experienced group coming back."

The Wildcats finished the season with an 11-13 overall record, 7-7 in the conference.

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