Wildcats finish season sweep of North Branch with 7-1 win

Chisago Lakes 7, North Branch 1
With both teams in the middle of a busy schedule, the Wildcats had the benefit of trotting out Alex Smith, while North Branch’s ace, Kaylee Lofboom took a seat for Kelsey Laffin. Lofboom had pitched the three nights before and was scheduled to pitch the next day. The Wildcats jumped on Laffin early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the second inning. They strung together hits from Smith, Joplin Klick, Quinncy Zupko, Grace Wright and Sami Sandretto. They struck again in the bottom of the third, adding two more runs to go up 6-0 on the Vikings. “Against the Vikings the last couple of years, we’ve been able to get to their pitching,” Chisago Lakes Head Coach Brenda Carlson said. “We don’t strike out very often and we’re always putting the ball in play. Our three, four and five hitters are really coming through right now.”

Meanwhile, Smith was mowing down Vikings from the pitching rubber. She held a shutout through six innings and had eight strikeouts on the night. The chilly and windy night got worse for North Branch when both Yoch sisters had hand injuries in the game. Amber, a second baseman, had a ground ball skip up and hit her in the bare palm while big sister Paige took a hit-by-pitch off the knuckles by Smith. Both girls were able to continue, but the North Branch offense just couldn’t get anything going. Paige scored the lone run on a hit by Korissa Franklin, but they only had four hits on the hight. One from Lofboom, one from Paige Yoch and two from Franklin. For the Wildcats, Smith went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, Klick went 2-for-4 with two runs, Cassie Lynch went 1-for-3 with two RBIs, and Sandretto had a run and two RBIs despite not collecting a hit. Bree Lang, and Wright each added and RBI.

“It was Senior Night. Usually, only one or two of our seniors start. Tonight, we were able to start all four of them and keep them in for the whole game,” Carlson said. “Kennedy Hoyt and Grace Wright each had a hit and scored a run and Grace drove in a run. I’m proud of them for stepping up and not missing a beat. That’s hard to do when you don’t play very often.”