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The Wildcats lost to Duluth Denfeld 4-1 to open the section playoffs last Saturday at Duluth. But they beat Cambridge and Grand Rapids later that same day to stay alive. To make it to the state tournament, they need to win three games in a row yesterday and win today's championship game. Yesterday's games were not played in time for publication in this week's Chisago County Press.

Duluth Denfeld 4, Chisago Lakes 1

The Wildcats took Denfeld to extra innings. But Wildcat defensive lapses led to three runs in the top of the eighth as the Hunters went on to win 4-1 in the opening game of the section playoffs.

Wildcat pitcher Rachel Nelson dominated the Hunters, striking out 13 batters and allowing six hits and no earned runs. Denfeld's pitcher mirrored Nelson's performance with 13 strikeouts of her own and allowed seven Wildcat hits. The difference was in the defense.

A Wildcat error in the second inning led to Denfeld's first run. The Wildcats manufactured a run to tie it up in the sixth. Angie Gauvin led off the inning with a single to left. Shannon Monson sacrificed her to second. Amanda Houle singled to drive in Gauvin and make the score 1-1.

Things fell apart in the top of the eighth. The Hunters' number nine hitter led off the inning with a single. The next batter struck out, but reached base as the Wildcats dropped the third strike and failed to force the batter at first. The runner on second went to third on a passed ball, and the runner on first then stole second. The next batter hit a ground ball that should have led to the first out of the inning. The Wildcats, however, committed their second error of the inning. After the play was over, one run had scored and there were runners on second and third. Nelson struck out the next batter for the first out of the inning. But the following batter singled to right to drive in two runs and give Denfeld a three-run lead.

Gauvin opened the bottom of the eighth with a single. Houle singled with one out to put runners on first and second. But a strikeout and a groundout ended the game. The Wildcat loss moved them into the loser's bracket of the tournament.

"We played well till the eighth inning," said Wildcat head coach Herb Jangor. "But then the same thing happened that always happens. We made a few miscues and didn't play smart and that lead to three runs. Also, we didn't have a lot of quality at-bats in this one."

Chisago Lakes 8, Cambridge-Isanti 3

The Wildcats took advantage of three Cambridge-Isanti errors in the fifth inning to score five runs and blow open a close game. They added two more runs in the sixth as they went on to beat the Bluejackets 8-3 in the second game of the section tournament.

The Bluejackets scored twice in the top of the first to take an early lead. The Wildcats got one back in the third. Amanda Houle led off with a double, stole third and scored on Tracy Schneider's suicide squeeze bunt to pull the Wildcats within one.

Houle singled to lead off the fifth. Schneider sacrificed her to second. Ariel Novak reached on an error, with Houle reaching third on the play. Novak stole second. Both runners scored on Lisa Schommer's double to right-center, and the Wildcats had their first lead of the day at 3-2. But the party wasn't over yet. Schommer moved to third on a passed ball and scored when the Cambridge shortstop booted Ashley Oehme's grounder. Oehme went to second on a passed ball, and then scored when the Bluejacket third baseman made an error on Mallory Schneider's grounder. Schneider scored on Angie Gauvin's double to make it a five run inning and give the Wildcats a 6-2 lead.

Cambridge added a run in the top of the sixth, but the Wildcats came right back with two more in the bottom of the inning on three extra base hits. With two outs, Schommer tripled to right center. Oehme drove in Schommer with a double to right center. Mallory Schneider doubled in Oehme, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple to end the inning. Pitcher Rachel Nelson allowed just a harmless single in the top of the seventh, putting the finishing touches on an 8-3 Wildcat win.

"I don't think we came ready to play," said Jangor. We had beaten Cambridge easily earlier in the season, and I don't think we respected them. We had a little chat after we were down 2-0 in the first inning. I did all the chatting. After that, we started hitting some shots, even though they didn't fall in. But we were into the game mentally and were playing good defense. In the fifth, the hits started falling in and things were all right."

Chisago Lakes 2, Grand Rapids 1

Ashley Oehme scored on Mallory Schneider's ground out to short in the fourth inning to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. Rachel Nelson then retired 12 of the last 13 batters she faced, preserving the Wildcats' 2-1 win and sending them to the Wednesday round of the Section 7AAA tournament.

The Wildcats used a couple of hits and a little luck to get on the board in the first inning. Ariel Novak singled to right center with two outs. Lisa Schommer then ripped a hard shot to right that looked like a single. But it took a bad hop and bounced over the right fielder's head for a triple, scoring Novak to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. The Indians used some luck of their own to tie it up in the bottom of the first. The leadoff hitter hit a fly ball so short right field. Right fielder Mallory Schneider raced in and made a diving attempt for the ball. She just missed it, and the ball rolled past her. By the time the Wildcats retrieved it, the batter was on third base with a triple. She later scored on a passed ball to tie the game at 1-1.

The score stayed tied till the fourth. Oehme popped a ball just over the first baseman's head that rolled down the right field line for a double to lead off the inning. The Wildcats then used to slap plays to get the run in. Angie Gauvin just tried to get her bat on the ball, slapping it towards short. Oehme moved toward third and hesitated. The shortstop threw to first for the force-out as Oehme took off for third. Oehme beat the relay throw back to third, sliding under the tag. Malory Schneider then got her bat on the ball, slapping a ball at the shortstop. Oehme again hesitated, the shortstop threw to first for the force out and Oehme beat the relay throw home to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. Nelson and the Wildcats defense took care of the rest. The Wildcat's 2-1 win kept their state tournament hopes alive.

"That was a battle of two excellent pitchers," said Jangor. "Rachel did an outstanding job and pitched effectively in all three games today. In this game, she pitched on mental toughness and found a way to get the job done. We won this one with good pitching, excellent defense and good execution offensively. Houle, Schommer, Novak and Gauvin all had great weekends with the bat. Mallory Schneider had two outstanding catches against Grand Rapids. The girls played a great game against a very good team and that's why we're moving on.

PLAYOFF PROSPECTS

The Wildcats were scheduled to play Anoka yesterday at noon and were scheduled to play again at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. if they continued to win. "The only way to advance is to look ahead'" said Jangor. "I told our seniors if you can get it to Wednesday, you never know. And the kids played well enough to get us there."

If they won all three games yesterday, you'll find them playing in St. Francis at 4 p.m., for the section championship. Call the Wildcat Activities Office at 651-213-2528 to confirm the game time and location.

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