THIEF RIVER FALLS OVERPOWERS CROOKSTON PIRATE SOFTBALL

The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Fastpitch Softball team allowed a seven-run fourth inning and had just one hit in a 14-0 loss against the Thief River Falls Prowlers in a Section 8AA game played at the Donnie Lauf Memorial Softball Field. 

Crookston right-hander Jenna Coauette settled in after hitting the first three batters she faced loading the bases. Coauette induced a groundout to first base hit by Haylie Rogalla that scored Breanna Wienen giving the Prowlers a 1-0 lead. A sacrifice fly hit to left field off the bat of Eme Gunderson plated Theif River Falls second run of the inning giving the visitors a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the first inning. Following a strikeout to open the bottom of the first inning, Kenze Epema blooped a singled into shallow left field for Crookston’s lone hit of the game before she was stranded at first base to end the inning. “They’re very fundamentally sound,” said Crookston head coach Robbe Nessler. “They made most of those plays look pretty easy and a lot of teams that we play, they will fumble a ball here or there, but Thief just did not do that. Even there throws over to first were just crisp. They make it look like its a very easy game to play, and it’s not.”
Khloe Lund led off the second inning with a double before Camryn Schwab hit a second straight double plating Lund and giving the Prowlers a 3-0 lead. A single followed by a walk reloaded the bases before Hannah Magnusson drove a sacrifice fly into left field giving Thief River Falls a 4-0 lead. Both sides were shutout before the Prowlers’ offense unloaded in the fourth inning. Thief River Falls opened the fourth inning with two straight singles before a flyout to left field kept both runners at first and second base. Hannah Magnusson drove a double into left-center field to score two boosting the visitors’ lead to 6-0. Gabriella Steele singled into left field to plate Magnusson giving Thief River Falls a 7-0 advantage. A pair of wild pitches allowed Steele to score while Hayle Rogalla walked to continue the inning. Eme Gunderson singled to move Rogalla to third base from which she scored on another wild pitch to make it 9-0. After Khloe Lund singled in another run, Abigail Molstad singled in the final run of the inning to give the Prowlers an 11-0 lead into the fifth inning. “They found some gaps and we did have a couple dropped balls in that inning defensively,” added Nessler. “When you have miscues like that, those things are going to come back to bite you. With a team like Thief River Falls, you have to play a clean game. We did have some miscues there and as mentioned, the way they were hitting the ball when they were able to find gaps, those were extra bases.”
Two infield errors allowed Thief River Falls first two batters to reach in the fifth inning before a walk loaded the bases. Paige Greene hit a sacrifice fly into right field for the first run of the inning before Khloe Lund hit a two-RBI single to close out the Prowlers scoring giving the Thief River Falls a 14-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning. Haylie Rogalla returned to the circle for the Prowlers in her fifth and final inning, finishing the game by retiring 14 straight batters to secure the 14-0 win in five innings. “I thought Jenna (Coauette) threw a good game,” summarized Nessler. “The results may not indicate that, or look like that, but Jenna did throw a good game. She’s a ninth-grade pitcher with a lot of potential and a lot of growth ahead of her. That was encouraging to me that she can step in and throw with composure against a team of that caliber. We’ve got to be more aggressive against a pitcher that’s throwing first-pitch strikes. That’s something I talked about with our girls before each inning and yet we still had some girls watching pitches. It may have been an intimidation factor. Their pitcher threw very hard today and then mixed in a changeup that had us off balance today.”

Crookston falls to 0-6 and returns to the diamond on Friday when the Pirates travel to Twin Valley to play Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal beginning at 5:00 p.m. Thief River Falls improves to 7-2. 

For Crookston
Kenze Epema had the only Crookston hit

For Thief River Falls
Camryn Schwab   2-2, 2 runs, double, 2 rbi
Khole Lund  3-4, 2 runs, double, 3rbi
Eme Gunderson 2-2, rbi
Hannah Magnusson  1-2, double, 3 runs, 3 rbi