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Chisago Lakes 3, North Branch 2

Ashley Mandell’s two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning put the Chisago Lakes Wildcats up 3-0 over the North Branch Vikings.  The Vikings rallied in the sixth and again in the seventh but fell short and lost 3-2 to the Wildcats, resulting in a split in the season series. 

Mandell gave up two earned runs on seven hits, walked two and struck out 10 to pick up the win for the Wildcats.  Hannah Bernier took the loss for the Vikings.  She gave up three earned runs on seven hits, walked three and struck out five.

Anna Zaruba singled to lead off the bottom of the second for the Wildcats.  Lily Myhre was hit by a pitch and Sam Johnson singled to load the bases.  Melanie Anderson hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Zaruba with the first run of the game.  But Bernier struck out the next two batters to end the threat and keep the score at 1-0.  Courtney Preston walked to lead off the bottom of the fifth for the Wildcats.  Mandell followed with a laser-like blast over the center field fence to increase the Wildcat lead to 3-0.  It was Mandell’s seventh home run of the season.

Bernier walked to lead off the top of the sixth.  After Peyton Verdon’s groundout forced her at second, Hammond singled.  Samantha Schmitt doubled to score Verdon.  But after a pop out to third, Mandell struck out Mikayla Mihajlovich to end the threat, and the Wildcats still led 3-1.  Victoria Thurmer singled to lead off the top of the seventh for the Vikings and moved to second on a ground-out by Aubrey Charpentier.  Erin Pederson singled to move Thurmer to third.  Bernier hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Thurmer and cut the Wildcats lead to 3-2.  But the rally ended there, as Mandell struck out Verdon to end the game.

Section Preview

The fourth-ranked Chisago Lakes Wildcats (16-4) got the number one seed and a first round bye in the double-elimination Section 7AAA playoffs.  The North Branch Vikings (11-9) are seeded second and hosted the seventh-seeded Duluth Denfeld Hunters in the quarterfinals.  If the Vikings, as expected, beat Denfeld, they will take on the winner of the game between third-seeded Hermantown and sixth-seeded Grand Rapids on Saturday and Braun Park in Cloquet at noon.  The Wildcats will also play at Braun Park at noon on Saturday, against the winner of the game between fourth-seeded Hibbing and fifth-seeded Cloquet.  

Semifinals and elimination bracket games will be played at the Grand Rapids Sports Complex on Tuesday, May 30, and the section championship will take place at Braun Park at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 1, with another game at 5:30 p.m., if necessary.

“This season was truly a team effort,” said Wildcat head coach Brenda Carlson.  “We have more good hitters than we have spots in the lineup, and that’s a good problem to have.  If someone is in a slump, we have four good hitters on the bench to choose from.  Our pitching and defense have been excellent.”

Pitching is the key in softball, and the Wildcats are lucky to have two top-line pitchers.  In 72.2 innings pitched, sophomore Anna Zaruba (9-2)  has struck out 114 batters and (how is this even possible?) walked just two.  “And I think the ball four call on one of those walks was questionable,” said Carlson, laughing. 

Mandell only gave up eight earned runs all season.  Senior Mandell, in 61.1 innings, allowed 19 earned runs, struck out 74 batters., and walked just 12.

The Wildcats hit .334 as a team this year.  Mandell led the way with a .452 batting average, a 1.000 slugging percentage and an incredible 1.562 OPS.  She hit seven of the Wildcats’ 13 home runs.  Courtney Preston hit three homers, Anna Zaruba hit two and Lily Myhra also hit a home run.

With top-level pitching and hitting, the Wildcats are the odds-on favorite to win the section and go to the state tournament for the second year in a row.  But Carlson is not taking anything for granted.   She said “By winning against Grand Rapids and Hermantown last Friday, we solidified the number one seed.  And I am happy that North Branch and Hermantown are in the other side of the bracket, so they will likely face off before we have to see either one of them.  And we only beat Cloquet 3-0.  If our defense stays solid, we should be in pretty good shape.  But with a thin margin for error, a couple of errors in the field could put us in a tough position.”

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