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North Branch and Highway 95 rival Cambridge-Isanti squared off with both seasons on the line.

The team squared off in the play-in round of the double elimination section tournament, so it was win or go home for both schools.

In the postseason, pitching and defense are emphasized, as every pitcher has their arm geared for the game of their life.

The starting pitchers in this game, Steph Saxe for North Branch, and Bailey Bakken for Cambridge-Isanti fought like a duel of cannon-flinging vessels, but Bakken had more wind in her sail as the Bluejackets defeated the Vikings 1-0.

The only run of the game came when the Jackets' Tricia Miller reached on an error, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and crossed the plate on a Jessica Newstrom single.

Throughout the whole contest, North Branch only managed four baserunners. Tiffany Anderson led off the fourth inning on first base from a C-I error. The speedster then stole second and moved to third on a fielders choice by Saxe.

Anderson was left stranded though, when her Vikings teammates couldn't drive her in from third base.

In the bottom of the seventh, the eighth-seeded Vikings began a threat with back-to-back one-out singles by Saxe and Elise Holmstrom.

The rally, however, was quickly killedoff with two infield pop-outs to end the game in favor of the Jackets.

"It's disappointing that our offense was not able to get on track in this game, but that has been our Achilles heel all season," head man Ron Trunk said. "We had another good effort from Steph on the mound, but we couldn't get enough run support to win the game."

The Vikings mustered only three hits against Bakken, who's only an eighth-grader, and their defense committed three errors.

The Vikings' season ends with a 5-12 overall record and a 4-10 mark in the North Suburban Conference, which tied them for seventh out of 11 teams.

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