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Chisago Lakes 6, North Branch 4

There is never a dull moment when the Chisago Lakes Wildcats and North Branch Vikings clash in softball, and this past Monday’s game was no exception.  Anna Zaruba’s two-run double in the top of the seventh inning gave the Wildcats a 5-4 lead, and they went on to beat the Vikings 6-4.  Zaruba pitched a complete game to pick up the win, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits.  She struck out ten and didn’t walk anybody.  For the Vikings, Hannah Bernier – who had a shutout through five innings – took the complete game loss.  She allowed six earned runs on ten hits, walked three and struck out seven.

Viking catcher Peyton Verdon led off the bottom of the first with a triple and, one out later, scored on a groundout by DH Erin Pederson to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.  In the third, Kaytlin Hammond singled with one out and went to third on Verdon’s single.  Verdon stole second, and, after Bernier struck out, Pederson singled to drive in both runners and the Vikings led 3-0.  Verdon topped off her perfect day at the plate with a two-out triple in the top of the fifth, scoring on an error by the Wildcats, to increase the Viking lead to 4-0.

Jess Dittel and Jesa Leritz stroked back-to-back singles to lead off the top of the sixth for the Wildcats.  Zaruba hit a grounder to short, and Dittel was forced at third.  Melana Larson followed with a double to drive in both runners and cut the Viking lead to 4-2.  One out later, Lily Myhra walked.  Morgan Kotval singled to drive in Larson and to pull the Wildcats within one run at 4-3.  In the seventh, Dittel and Leritz again led off with back-to-back singles.  Zaruba doubled to drive in both speedy runners, giving the Wildcats their first lead of the game at 5-4.  Zaruba moved to third on a wild pitch.  Two outs later, Lily Myhra singled to drive in another run, and the Wildcats led 6-4.  Abigail Pfeifer singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh for the Vikings.  But Zaruba struck out Victoria Thurmer for the first out, and Ellcey Johnson and Hammond grounded out to end the game.

“We were pretty frozen from our tournament over the weekend,” said Wildcat head coach Brenda Carlson.  “We did not play stellar at first but put it together at the end.  I never have to worry whether the kids will always have that fight in them.  Jess and Jesa are only sophomores, but they don’t play like that.  To have those two lead us out and then have Anna and Melana coming up to drive them in is great.  And the bottom part of the order comes through with enough timely at bats to keep us going until we get to the top again.”

Carlson is proud of the way her star pitcher fought through things against the Vikings.  She said “Anna had pitched a lot of innings over the cold weekend.  And she finally broke the curse against North Branch.  Still, we had a hard time getting Verdon, the North Branch catcher, out.”

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