The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Fast Pitch Softball team’s Jenna Coauette threw a one-hitter, the defense played an error-free game and they cruised to an 11-1 victory in five innings over the Red Lake County Central Mustangs in a game played at the Donnie Lauf/American Legion Softball Field in Crookston.
Jenna Coauette struck out the first two batters of the game and caught a line drive back at her to retire RLCC in the first inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Crookston’s Addie Fee doubled, Kenze Epema was hit by a pitch, and Amber Cymbaluk singled to load the bases with nobody out. Fee scored on a wild pitch, Epema was caught in a run down and retired, and Cymbaluk scored on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead. Jenna Coauette reached on a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an error for a 3-0 lead after one inning. “The girls are very aggressive runners and they know if the ball gets by the catcher they are going,” said Pirate Coach Sunny Bowman. “Our goal is always to score first and we did it again today.”
Emily Tate got things going with a one-out walk in the second inning. She advanced to second on a ground out and scored on another error for a 4-0 lead. “That was another wild pitch and we ran and the throw was off the mark and we scored, so aggressive baserunning paid off,” said Coach Bowman.
In the third inning, Reese Swanson reached on a one-out walk and advanced to second on a passed ball, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on another wild pitch. Emma Boll walked and moved to second base when Emily Bowman was hit by a pitch. Boll came into score on a wild pitch for a 6-0 lead. “We have some smart base runners,” said Coach Bowman. “Not only aggressive but smart and that showed today.”
RLCC finally got their first and only hit of the game in the fourth inning when Shawna Mejeres hit a one-out triple and scored on a wild pitch to bring the Mustangs within a 6-1 deficit.
Crookston responded with a run in the bottom of the inning when Cymbluk walked and scored on a Jenna Coauette double to leftfield for a 7-1 lead. “She crushed it,” said Coach Bowman. “She was kind of upset about a call earlier and took it out on the ball and that was great to see.”
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Crookston got things going with one out. Bowman walked, Aleah Bienek reached on a fielder’s choice, Tate walked. Bowman scored on a wild pitch for an 8-1 lead. Addie Fee reached on an error and Epema walked. Cymbaluk walked with bases loaded to score a run for a 9-1 lead. Tate scored on a wild pitch and with runners at second and third, Fee scored on a wild pitch to win the game 11-1 in five innings. “We told the girls we only needed four runs to win the game and they were pretty excited,” said Coach Bowman. “We have lost several games this season by the 10-run rule and it was nice to be on the winning side this time. The girls played great defense, we had aggressive baserunning and Jenna pitched another great game for us. The girls have a lot of smiles right now.”
The Crookston Pirates improve to 2-11 on the year and will travel to Bagley on Tuesday. Red Lake County Central drops to 3-9 on the year.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E | |
| RLCC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| CROOKSTON | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 3 | 0 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Jenna Coauette – Crox | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Shawna Mejers – RLCC | 4.1 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 3 |
For CROOKSTON
Amber Cymbaluk – 1 for 2, 2 runs, 2 walks, rbi
Jenna Coauette – 1 for 2, run, rbi, walk, double
Addie Fee – 1 for 4, two runs
Kenze Epema – 0 for 0, 3 walks, 1 hit by pitch
For Red Lake County Central
Shawna Majors – 1 for 2, triple, run
