---

Chisago Lakes 2, Rock Ridge 1 (10 innings)

Jesa Leritz stole home in the bottom of the tenth inning to give the Wildcat softball team a 2-1 win over the Rock Ridge Wolverines in the Section 7AAA championship game on Thursday, May 29 at North Branch High School.  The win sends the Wildcats to their third state tournament appearance in four years.  The Wildcats, seeded second at the state tournament, were originally supposed to play the seventh-seeded Benilde-St. Margaret’s Red Knights on Tuesday, June 3.  But rain pushed the game to the morning of Wednesday, June 4.  The rest of the tournament schedule depends on the results of the first game.  You can find the schedule on mshsl.org.  If the Wildcats do win their first two games, the schedule is easy – they will play tomorrow (Friday, June 6) at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium of the campus of the University of Minnesota.

Starting pitcher Anna Zaruba pitched all 10 innings for the Wildcats.  She allowed one earned run on five hits, walked one and struck out 14.   The only run she allowed was a first inning home run.  The third batter of the game was the Rock Ridge catcher.  She launched an 0-2 pitch over the center field fence to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead.  The Wildcats tied it up in the third inning.  Jess Dittel-Hoefler led off the inning with a single.  Leritz hit a ground ball to the second baseman.  Dittel-Hoefler was forced out at second, but the speedy Leritz was not doubled up at first.  Leritz stole second.  Zaruba’s double to center scored Leritz, tying the game at 1-1.

After allowing the home run, Zaruba retired 17 straight Wolverines.  It looked like the Wildcats were going to win the game in the bottom of the seventh.  Annika Malchow doubled to center to open the inning.  Molly Luoma pinch ran for her.  Rylan Sheppeck dropped down a sacrifice bunt to send Luoma to third.  Rock Ridge intentionally walked Makenna Thorsen and Aubrey Perry to load the bases and set up a force at home.  Pinch hitter Seanna Ritter struck out.  Dittel-Hoefler flew out to right to end the inning, and the game was headed to extra innings.

In the top of the ninth, the Wolverines leadoff hitter singled and went to second on a passed ball.   The next batter flew out. That brought up the Rock Ridge catcher, who had already homered and doubled in the game.  She was intentionally walked.  Zaruba struck out the next batter.  A single to center loaded the bases.  But Zaruba struck out the final batter of the inning to keep the score tied at 1-1.  In the top of the tenth, the first batter bunted.  The throw to first was offline, but the batter would have been safe anyway.  The next batter bunted and pushed the ball between Zaruba and first baseman Perry.  Second baseman Dittel-Hoefler fielded the ball but there was no one to throw to at first.  The runner from first had rounded second too far.  Dittel-Hoefler whipped the ball to shortstop Kayla Larsen.  The runner got her hand on the base before the tag, bur her hand came off the base as Larsen applied the tag and she was out.  On the very next pitch, the runner on first tried to steal second.  But catcher Sheppeck gunned a perfect throw to Larsen to nail the runner, and there were two outs.  The batter grounded out to end the inning.

With one out in the bottom of the tenth inning, the left-handed hitting Leritz slapped a high fly ball into the left-center field gap, raced around the bases, and slid into third ahead of the throw for a triple.  The Wolverines intentionally walked Zaruba and Melana Larson to load the bases, setting up a potential force at home.  The next batter, Annika Malchow, took the first pitch for a strike.  As the ball left the pitcher’s hand, Leritz jumped off third base and went a third of the way down the line.  The catcher did not look her way and lobbed the ball back to the pitcher.  As soon as the ball left the pitcher’s hand, Leritz took off for home.  The catcher yelled for the pitcher to throw the ball back, but Leritz slid in ahead of the throw and the Wildcats had a 2-1 win as the crowd and the team erupted in celebration.

Wildcat head coach Brenda Carlson confirmed that Leritz stole home on her own.  “She has the green light in that situation,” said Carlson.  “We worked on it in practice.  Unfortunately, I was blocked and didn’t see any of the play at home.”  Carlson talked about how the togetherness of this year’s team helps to contribute to their success.  She said “In previous years, when we would go out of town for section tournament games, a lot of the players would go home with their parents.  With this year’s team, for every game in the playoffs, they went on the bus as a team.  Together.  It’s the most united team from top to bottom that I’ve ever had.”

For junior Annika Malchow, it’s the first trip to the state tournament.  How does it feel?  She said “Amazing!  This is such a good team, and it was such a hard-fought win.  And we stuck it out. “

The section championship was an early birthday present for starting pitcher Anna Zaruba, whose birthday was the next day.  She said “This is special because it’s my senior year and going into the year I wasn’t sure if pitching was going to be an option.  We battled back.  This year is going to be fun.  Go out with a bang and hopefully get first place.”

After the game, Carlson was notified that Zaruba had been named first team all-state for Class AAA and Melana Larson had been named second team all-state.

---