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Benilde St. Margaret's 5, Chisago Lakes 2

Trailing 5-0 going into the sixth inning, the Wildcats started a rally, but their comeback fell three runs short as they lost to conference leader Benilde-St. Margaret's 5-2 last Monday, May 5 at Chisago Lakes.

The Red Knights scored two runs in the first inning, then tacked on single runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings to expand their lead to five runs. Only three of the five runs were earned as the Wildcats had trouble fielding the ball. They also made some mental errors. "You can't have mental errors and expect to beat a good team like Benilde," said Wildcat head coach Herb Jangor. Also, we need to have the attitude that we expect to win every time we're out there. Our players think they're going to win, but they don't necessarily expect it. We're beating all the teams we're supposed to beat, but we've got to find a way to beat some of the teams we're not expected to beat. Rachel Nelson pitched well enough to keep us in the game."

Schommer led the Wildcats with two hits, and she and Tracy Schneider each drove in a run for the Wildcats.

Chisago Lakes 4, Irondale 0

Lisa Schommer went 3-for-4 and hit her first home run of the season and Rachel Nelson scattered nine hits and struck out ten as the Wildcats shut out Irondale 4-0 at Irondale last Tuesday, April 30.

In the top of the second inning, Schommer singled, went to second on a passed ball and scored on Nelson's single to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. Baserunning blunders kept the Wildcats from a potentially big inning in the second. In the third, Amanda Houle walked, Mallory Schneider singled and Ashley Oehme single to load the base with no outs. Tracy Schneider singled to score Houle, but Mallory Schneider was gunned down at the plate for the first out of the inning. One out later, Angie Gauvin single to drive in Oehme and stretch the Wildcat lead to 3-0. Schommer's fourth-inning home run was the e icing on the cake for the Wildcats as they recorded their first shutout win of the season.

The Wildcats hit the ball well against the Knights. Houle and Oehme had three hits apiece, and Tracy Schneider and Ariel Novak each had two hits.

Nelson was in trouble throughout the game. The Knights had runners in scoring position with no outs three times in the game, and Nelson pitched herself out of trouble each time. Jangor remarked "the key to Rachel's success today was her ability to bear down, say 'enough's enough' and get us out of there with no damage. We also played good defense behind her. Oh, wow! There's a correlation. We made the plays behind Rachel, she got some key strikeouts and we got a nice win."

"Lisa's starting to hit the ball well," said Jangor. "It was fun to watch her reaction on the home run. Once she knew it was over the fence, she leaped so high rounding second I considered using her as a shot blocker in basketball."

BECKER TOURNAMENT

Chisago Lakes 5, St. Cloud Apollo 3

Good things have happened for the Wildcats as Ariel Novak and Lisa Schommer have started to hit the ball. Each player got two hits, Novak drove in two runs and Schommer scored two and drove in one as the Wildcats beat St. Cloud Apollo 5-3 in the opening game of the one-day Becker Tournament last Saturday, May 3.

The Wildcats drew first blood in the top of the third inning. Jill Sontag was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on Amanda Houle's single. Apollo came back with two runs in the bottom of the third. The Wildcats answered with three runs in the top of the fourth. Ashley Oehme led off with a walk and scored on Tracy Schneider's double to right center. Schommer then doubled to right center to score Oehme. Angie Gauvin sacrificed Schommer to third, and Novak singled to drive in Schommer and put the Wildcats up 4-2. The teams each scored a run in the sixth inning, making the final score Chisago Lakes 5, St. Cloud Apollo 3. Rachel Nelson scattered five hits and struck out 9 to pick up the win.

Becker 2, Chisago Lakes 1 (8 innings)

The Wildcats missed making it to the championship game "by about an inch," said Jangor, as Lisa Schommer's bid for a home run in the bottom of the seventh banged off the top of the fence to leave the score tied at 1-1 and send the game into extra innings. Host team Becker scored an unearned run in the top of the eighth inning, and the Wildcats went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth to lose 2-1.

The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning through some small ball. Amanda Houle and Mallory Schneider led off the inning with bunt singles. Ariel Novak sacrificed the runners ahead one base, and Houle scored on a passed ball to get the Wildcats on the board.

The Wildcats still led 1-0 going into the top of the seventh. But with two outs and nobody on, a Becker player doubled. The next batter drove her in with a single to tie the score at 1-1 going into the bottom of the seventh. Schommer's near-home run came with one out, and the Wildcats couldn't get her home from second. "We would have won the game if Schommer's ball had gone out," said Jangor. "I thought for sure it was over the fence when she hit it." Two Wildcat errors in the top of the eighth led to the Becker's go-ahead run, sending the Wildcats to the tournament's third place game. Nelson struck out nine and allowed just five hits in taking a tough loss.

Becker was 10-0 going into the game. "Their coach said it was one of the best games they've had all year. We played a masterful game, and came within one pitch in the top of the seventh of winning the game and one inch in the bottom of the seventh of winning the game. Unfortunately, we made a couple of errors in the eighth that gave the win to Becker."

St. Cloud Tech 5, Chisago Lakes 3

Kasey Eichten pitched well enough to win in her first career start, but the Wildcats (6-6 overall, 5-3 conference) committed a couple of key defensive miscues and lost to St. Cloud Tech 5-3 in the third-place game of the Becker Tournament.

Ariel Novak had two hits and two stolen bases for the Wildcats. Tracy Schneider and Ashley Oehme each drove in a run for the Wildcats as they took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Eichten struck out seven Tech batters.

"This is one of those games we never really got it going," said Jangor. "We got two in the first, but couldn't get the key hit or key bounce when we needed it. We had too many errors. We had a rally going in the fifth that would have tied it up, but a batted ball went off their shortstop's foot and right to the second baseman for an out. It just wasn't our day."

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