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Chisago Lakes 4, North Branch 0

The Chisago Lakes Wildcats beat their archrivals for the second time this season, shutting out the North Branch Vikings 4-0 this past Monday, May 6 at Chisago Lakes High School.  Makenna Thorsen pitched a shutout for the Wildcats.  She allowed ten hits, walked two and struck out three, and pitched her way out of a few jams.  Hannah Bernier took the loss for the Vikings.  She allowed four earned runs on six hits, walked two and struck out nine.

Wildcat Meagan Anderson singled to lead off the bottom of the third inning.  Melanie Anderson sacrificed her to second, and Jess Dittel-Hoefler doubled  to drive in Anderson, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.  And while Anna Zaruba did not pitch in this game, she made a big impact with her bat.  Courtney Preston walked with two outs in the bottom of the fifth.  Singles by Dittel-Hoefler and Jesa Leritz loaded the base.  Zaruba cleared the bases with a double, pushing the Wildcat lead to 4-0.

Meanwhile, the Vikings had multiple baserunners in four of the game’s seven innings.  Abigail Pfeifer and Aubrey Charpentier had three hits each, but their teammates failed to drive them in.  In the top of the seventh, consecutive one-out singles by Peyton Verdon, Pfeifer and Charpentier loaded the bases.  But Victoria Thurmer struck out and Bernier popped to first to end the game.

Chisago Lakes 4, Cambridge-Isanti 1

Anna Zaruba’s two-run double in the top of the seventh inning broke a 1-1 tie, leading the Wildcats to a 4-1 win over the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets Wednesday, May 1 at Cambridge-Isanti High School.  Zaruba also went the distance on the mound.  In seven innings, she allowed one earned run on three hits, walked none, and struck out eight.

The game was scoreless until the Wildcats broke through in the top of the sixth.  Melana Larson led off with a double and was sacrificed to second by Sam Johnson.  Morgan Kotval doubled to drive in Larson, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.  In the top of the seventh, Jess Dittel-Hoefler led off with a single.  Jesa Leritz walked.  Zaruba followed with a double to drive in both runners.  Larson then singled to drive in Zaruba, and the Wildcats led 4-0.  Zaruba surrendered a solo home run to Cuincy Gibbs to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but she set down the next three batters to seal the win.

Chisago Lakes 5, Big Lake 0

Anna Zaruba did something for just the second time this season when the Wildcats played at Big Lake last Friday, May 3 – she walked a batter.  But, otherwise, she was her usual dominant self on the mound, leading the Wildcats to a 5-0 shutout win over the Big Lake Hornets.  Zaruba allowed just two hits, walked one and struck out seven.

The Wildcats finally broke up a scoreless game in the top of the fifth.  Melanie Anderson doubled to lead off the inning, and Abby Sufka reached on an error.  After Chloe Ruza struck out, Courtney Preston hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Anderson with the first run of the game.  Jess Dittel-Hoefler then tripled to drive in Sufka and scored on a single by Morgan Kotval to make the score 3-0.  The Wildcats added a little cushion in the top of the seventh.  Preston and Dittel-Hoefler walked with two outs, and both scored on a triple by Dittel-Hoefler to make the score 5-0.  Zaruba set down the Hornets 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh, striking out the last two batters to end the game with a flourish.

Softball Squiggles

The Wildcats (11-1) have a six-game winning streak and are ranked third in the state in Class AAA.

Tonight, the Wildcats will host the Princeton Tigers in a conference game at Chisago Lakes High School at 4:30 p.m.  Tomorrow, they will play the Cloquet Lumberjacks at Mark Park in Princeton at 6 p.m.  And next Tuesday, May 14, they will head to Monticello High School to take on the Magic at 5 p.m.

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