The Crookston Pirate Softball team won their first game of the season with an outstanding all-around effort in a 3-1 victory over the Ada-Borup/West Cougars in a game played at the Donnie Lauf/American Legion Softball Field in Crookston.
Ada-Borup/West had a threat going in the top of the first inning with runners on second and third base with two outs before Crookston got out of the inning with a groundout.
In the bottom of the inning, Crookston’s Addie Fee led off with a double to right-centerfield and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. “I can’t say enough about Addie Fee coming in this week and taking the starting spot in the lineup and hitting the ball,” said Coach Sunny Bowman. “She has been doing whatever it takes to get on base and has kind of been a rock at the top of the lineup for us.” Kenze Epema singled to score the first run of the game and advanced to second on a stolen base and moved to third on a wild pitch. Amber Cymbaluk grounded out to shortstop, but Epema scored on the play and Crookston took a 2-0 lead. “Kenze has been hitting the ball well all season long and it was nice to see her get the big hit,” said Coach Bowman. “Amber made contact and put it in play and it was a good way to start the game.”
Ada-Borup/West had runners at first and third with two outs in the second inning, but Crookston pitcher Jenna Coauette struck out the next batter to get out of the jam.
In the third inning, Ada-Borup/West had runners at second and third with one out, and the next batter lined out to left field Emily Tate who made a nice catch, and the next batter popped out to the catcher for the third out.
In the bottom of the inning, Amber Cymbaluk reached on an error and her courtesy runner Carly Knutson advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Knutson advanced to third base on another wild pitch and came into score on a Reese Swanson singled for a 3-0 lead. “We decided to go with a courtesy runner with our little track star, Carly Knutson, and she kind of did some creative things on the bases herself,” said Coach Bowman. “Reese had another nice hit and scored the run and it was nice to get another run.”
Ada-Borup/West had runners on second and third with one out in the top of the fourth inning only to fly out to left field and a ground out to the shortstop as Crookston’s Coauette let her defense do the work to get out of another jam. “We want Jenna to throw strikes and she did today,” said Coach Bowman. “We also need the defense to help her out and they played great behind Jenna today.”
In the fifth inning, with two outs, Ada-Borup/West’s Emma Stewart drew a four-pitch walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch, and stole third base. On the steal attempt, the throw to third went into left field and Stewart scored to bring the Cougars within a 3-1 deficit. The next batter popped out to shallow center field and Crookston’s second baseman Kenze Epema went back to make a nice running catch to get out of the inning.
Jenna Coauette continued her fantastic pitching and was helped by the solid Pirate defense in the sixth inning with two ground outs and a strikeout.
In the seventh inning, Coauette gave up a hit, only the third of the game, but bounced back to get the next batter to fly out to Emily Tate in left field for the first out. The next batter, Kaisa Jones, had an infield single and runners were at first and second. Lauren Thompson was the next Cougar batter and she hit a rocket line drive right at Pirate third baseman Reese Swanson, who showed cat-like reflexes to catch the line drive to get the second out and she quickly threw to second base and the runner was off the bag for a double play and Crookston won the game 3-1. “I was super excited,” said Coauette, talking about the last out. “I have to give credit to Amber (Cymbaluk) for calling a great game behind the plate and the defense was amazing. When the defense is playing well, I feel more confident and they were awesome today.”
Coach Bowman said the team played their best all-around game. “I saw them play defense exactly how I know they can play,” said Coach Bowman. “It all came together today with good defense, good hitting, and great pitching. It was a good all-around game.”
Crookston improves to 1-11 on the year and will host Red Lake County Central on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. KROX will carry the game after UMC baseball.
Ada-Borup/West drops to 8-4 on the year.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Ada-Borup/W | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| CROOKSTON | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Jenna Coauette – Crox | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Ariel Johnson – ABW | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
For Crookston
Addie Fee – 2 for 3, run
Amber Cymbaluk – 1 for 2, rbi, run
Kenze Epema – 1 for 3, run, rbi
For Ada-Borup/West
Lillian Bitker – 1 for 2, walk
Ariel Johnson – 1 for 3
