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Chisago Lakes 6, Totino Grace 4

A two-run single by Ashley Oehme followed by a two-run triple by Danielle Tossey keyed a six run sixth inning for the Wildcats. They overcame a 4-0 deficit and went on to beat conference foe Totino Grace 6-4 Monday, May 11 at Chisago Lakes. The Wildcats had six runs, six hits and six errors for the game. Four of the Wildcat errors led to all of the Eagle runs.

The Eagles used a walk, a single, an error and another single to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. In the bottom of the inning, Wildcats' Kasey Eichten walked and Mackenzie Turk singled to put two runners on with no outs. But the next two batters popped up bunt attempts for outs and the final batter of the inning popped up weakly to the catcher for the third out.

In the top of the fifth, the first two Eagles reached on errors. Rachel Nelson retired the next two batters on a strikeout and a groundout. The next batter singled to drive in two runs, and a fly ball misplayed for an error scored the third Eagle run of the inning and gave them a 4-0 lead. The Wildcats threatened again in the bottom of the fifth. Mallory Schneider led off with a double and stole third. But the next three batters struck out, keeping the Wildcats scoreless.

Nelson shut down the Eagles 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth. Amanda Houle led off the bottom of the inning with a double to left center that hit the fence on one bounce. The second baseman dropped Nelson's ensuing popup for an error, with Houle remaining at second. The shortstop then bobbled Lisa Schommer's hard grounder to load the bases. Oehme then smashed a single to center to score the first two Wildcat runs. With a two strike count, Tossey tripled over the left fielder's head to score two more runs and tie the game at 4-4. Schneider doubled to right center to score Tossey. Eichten's sacrifice bunt advanced Schneider to third. Mackenzie Turk then slapped the ball to second to score Schneider with the sixth run of the inning.

After the Wildcats took the lead, Nelson retired the first two batters in the seventh. The next batter smashed a line drive off Nelson's thigh. She shook off the pain, pounced on the ball and fired it to first to nip the runner to give the Wildcats a 6-4 win.

"Mallory Schneider has been battling shoulder and leg problems this season," said Wildcat head coach Herb Jangor. "I asked her if she thought she could get it done today and she said 'Yes, I can, coach.' Then she goes up and smacks two doubles in a row. Oehme has also been playing solid for us and seems to get a key hit every game. She gets the bat on the ball and plays a solid third base for us. Sometimes you don't really notice it during the game, but when we're doing the game summary from the scorebook we always say 'Man, Oehme is playing some great softball.'"

Jangor continued: "The way we played in the first five innings of this game, we didn't really deserve to win. We made a lot of errors and had a lot of bad at bats, striking out or popping up bunts with runners on base. Rachel had only allowed four hits, yet because of our sloppy play we were behind 4-0. But we turned things around with some clutch hitting in the sixth and some solid pitching and fielding in the last two innings and definitely deserved to win after that.

"I'm proud that our players were still trying hard and battling even though things didn't go well early. That's why we still had a chance at the end. Our players have this mentality that they can come back and win, and when they get the bats going it's tough to shut them down."

The Wildcats (14-3 overall, 10-2 conference) needed a split in yesterday's doubleheader at St. Francis to finish second in the North Suburban Conference. They'll finish out the regular season at Cambridge-Isanti in a non-conference tilt tomorrow, Friday May 15 at 4:30 p.m. For the section playoffs, the Wildcats will likely be one of the top four seeds and receive a bye in the opening round next Wednesday, May 20. Their section play will start Saturday, May 23 at the field in St. Francis, with later rounds taking place at Wheeler Field in Duluth.

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