sports

BAGLEY SCORES 10 RUNS IN AN INNING TO BEAT PIRATE SOFTBALL

April 22, 2019

The Crookston Pirate Softball team gave up 10 runs in an inning and lost 16-8 to the Bagley Flyers in a Section 8AA Girl’s fastpitch softball game played at the Donnie Lauf Memorial Field in Crookston.

Jasmin Hanson started the game well in the circle for the Pirates, striking out each of her first three batters faced heading into the bottom of the first inning. “Jasmin (Hanson) threw very well again for us,” said Crookston head coach Robbe Nessler. “That first inning, she struck out the side. They were trying to adjust to her speed a little bit, and they did get adjusted to it as we saw, but it took them an inning or two.” In the bottom of the first inning, Maddie Salentine led off the inning with a single but was unable to safely advance to third base on a stolen base attempt ending the first inning.
In the top of the second frame, Faith Broten singled to lead off the inning before an error in left field allowed McKinzie Halverson to reach base safely running to third base while Broten scored giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Following a strikeout, Gracey Halverson popped out to second base, but the ball was hit deep enough to score McKinzie Halverson from third base pushing Bagley’s lead to 2-0 heading into the bottom of the second inning. Amber Cymbaluk singled to lead off the bottom of the second inning before stealing second base. Cymbaluk advanced to third base on a wild pitch before Brylee Lessard walked to put runners on the corners. Ashlyn Genereux singled to center field to plate Cymbaluk trimming Crookston’s deficit down to 2-1. An errant throw by Bagley’s catcher trying to throw out Genereux sailed into center field allowing Lessard to score from third base tying the game at 2-2 before a strikeout ended the inning tied at 2-2. “We had a bunch of girls that did well at the plate tonight,” said Nessler. “We had some baserunning mistakes. We missed a couple of signs that we talked about with the girls so that’s something we’ll have to work on as well.”
In the top of the third inning, Tessa Tramm reached on a fielder’s choice to extend the inning with two outs before McKinnzie Halverson singled plating Tramm and pushing Bagley ahead 3-2. Faith Broten doubled to left center field to score Halverson before being thrown out a third base ending the inning with Bagley’s lead 4-2 heading into the fourth inning.
In the top of the fourth inning, Sarah Hecht led off the inning reaching on an error at shortstop before Kara Bowman singled scoring Hecht from second base and giving Bagley a 5-2 lead. Gracey Halverson singled to put runners on the corners before an error by Crookston’s pitcher scored Bowman. An error at second base scored Gracey Halverson while allowing another batter to reach base safely as the Flyers managed to plate 10 runs total over the inning on six Pirate errors giving the Flyers a 14-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning where Crookston proved to be resilient. “Jasmin (Hanson) did her job in that inning,” explained Nessler. “We’ve got to be able to make plays behind her. We just made some routine plays maybe not look so routine today. It just kind of was a snowball effect. We started out with a couple of tough plays we could’ve made, but they hit the ball all over the field, and we’ve got to be able to make plays behind Jasmin. That’s the bottom line. It’s a continuous thing we’ve talked about. When Jasmin is pitching, she’s going to pitch to contact, and they’re going to swing and probably hit the ball so we’ve got to make the plays behind her and if we can’t things are going to end up like that.”
Amber Cymbaluk started the rally with a one-out walk before Kasey Cwikla singled to put runners on the corners. Cwikla stole second base while inducing a throw allowing Cymbaluk to score from third base bringing the Pirates within 14-3. “I was trying to be a little bit more aggressive on the base paths today,” said Nessler. “We had a couple of girls steal successfully today.” McKenze Epema singled to put runners back on the corners before Ashlyn Genereux grounded out allowing Cwikla to score from third base trimming Crookston’s deficit down to 14-4. “(Ashlyn Genereux) has been swinging well,” noted Nessler. “She didn’t get a ton of time at the varsity level last year, so she’s stepped in for people who moved on and has been swinging a nice bat for us.” Eden Haller reached on an error at second base scoring Epema before another error scored Haller as Maddie Salentine reached safely. Emma Boll reached on Bagley’s third straight error as Salentine score before Jenna Coauette concluded the innings’ scoring with an RBI single to centerfield scoring Epema and cutting Bagley’s lead down to 14-8. “Jenna (Coauette), at the plate, has maybe been pressing a little bit,” added Nessler. “Which is ok, she’s a young player, so she’s just looking to make some solid contact, but it was just good to see today that she was able to bring somebody in and make something happen for us.”
Faith Broten provided the Flyer’s with an RBI single and insurance run in the fifth inning before she hit an RBI groundout in the top of the seventh inning putting Bagley ahead 16-8 heading into the final half-inning of the game.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Kasey Cwikla, McKenze Epema, and Ashlyn Genereux reach on three straight walks to load the bases with one out in the inning, but a pop-out and strikeout ended Crookston’s comeback bid as the Flyer’s hung on for a 16-8 win. “It’s kind of similar to what I said in East Grand Forks,” summarized Nessler. “You can’t take too many moral victories from any situation, but for where we’re at as a program it’s nice to us respond positively after a negative experience we had in that tough inning. If we had not given up those runs (in the fourth inning) we’re right in the game, and I still felt like we were competitive. We had our opportunities, but we just couldn’t quite take advantage of them today.”

Crookston falls to 0-3 on the season and will take on Ada-Borup at 4:30 p.m. on Friday in Ada. Bagley improves to 1-1.