The Crookston and Sacred Heart Softball teams met on Friday afternoon at Donnie Lauf Field in Crookston. Each team had one monster inning, but Sacred Heart scored 14 unanswered runs for their first win of the season, a 15-10 victory over the Pirates.
Sacred Heart got on the board in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Grace Loeslie and Izzy Cwikla drew back-to-back walks, and after Loeslie stole third base, runners were on the corners with 0 outs. Dani Kresle would get a groundout for the Pirates that would bring a run-in making it 1-0, and then Chewalka would be thrown out by Reese Swanson trying to steal third base for the second out. Kresl would then end the inning with a strikeout to limit the damage.
Crookston would respond in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game. Emily Bowman would work a 1-out walk, and Ally Perreault would knock a single putting runners on the corners with 1-out. Perreault would then steal second base and on a throwing error by the Eagles, Bowman would come in to score and tie the game. Loeslie would settle in on the mound and get the next two hitters out keeping the game tied at 1-1 after one inning of play.
Sacred Heart would get runners on first and second base in the top of the second inning but would be held off the scoreboard. The Pirates would blow the game open in the bottom of the second inning. Kresl would start with a leadoff 1-out single, and another error by the Eagles would allow six straight Pirates to reach to take a 4-1 lead while still leaving the bases loaded. After a fielders choice kept the bases loaded with two outs, Reese Swanson would mash a double scoring two more to make it 6-1. the next five Pirates batters would walk to bring in four more runs, and Crookston would take a 10-1 lead after two innings of play. The Pirates drew six walks and one hit by a pitch during the second inning to help take the big lead. “I thought we did an excellent job of watching pitches tonight and not chasing balls,” said Pirates Head Coach Sunny Bowman. “Once they brought a different pitcher into the game and she started throwing more strikes it became tough for us at the plate and we just never really adjusted.”
The nine run lead for the Pirates was not safe enough, and remarkable, the Eagles would immediately take the lead back in the top of the third inning. Four straight walks and a hit by pitch allowed Sacred Heart to score their second and third run of the game and left the bases loaded with nobody out in the top of the third inning with the Pirates in front 10-3. The Pirates would make a pitching change as Dani Kresl was dealing with a shoulder injury. “I could tell she was starting to hurt a little bit and this is something she had injured last week,” said Pirates Head Coach Sunny Bowman. “I knew once I saw it was hurting again we needed to get her out and make that switch because I didn’t want her playing through pain and pushing it to hard this early in the season.” The Pirates would turn to Jenna Coauette. Sacred Heart would then start to connect and hit the ball, getting three hits to bring in four more runs and cut the deficit to 10-8. The Eagles would then get another hit, scoring a run, and the second base runner would be caught in a rundown between third and home. Crookston would be unable to get the runner out during the play as it would be a bang-bang play at the plate, and the tag would be just late. That would tie the game at 10-10, and Sacred Heart would add one more run for a 10 run top of the third inning to reclaim the lead 11-10. “I basically just asked the girls after the game what happened during that stretch?,” said Pirates Head Coach Sunny Bowman. “They agreed with me in saying that the wheels feel off and we really never could recover at that point.”
The pitching and defenses would settle down the rest of the game and slowly quiet the offenses. Coautte would work a 1-out walk in the bottom of the third inning, and advance to second base on a wild pitch. Reese Swanson would smack a line drive right back at pitcher Maddie Dolan, who would make a sensational catch, and double Coauette off of second base to end the inning and keep the Eagles in front 11-10 after three innings of play.
Sacred Heart would get their offense cooking again in the top of the fourth inning, with the leadoff hitter reaching via a hit by pitch, and a double by Avery Holthaus to put runners on second and third base. Couaette would get a big strikeout and after a groundout would bring an Eagles run making it 12-10, a flyout would end the inning and Crookston would come to bat in the bottom of the fourth.
Crookston would go 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning, and Haley Vonasek would lead off the top of the fifth inning with a double for the Eagles. Vonasek would advance to third on a ground ball, and after another groundball out, would score giving Sacred Heart a 13-10 lead.Â
The Pirates would get a 2-out single from Emily Bowman in the bottom of the fifth, but she would be caught stealing, and Sacred Heart would take a 13-10 lead into the final two innings of play.
Coauette would dial up a 1-2-3 strike out the side top of the sixth inning, and Crookston would come to bat with the middle of the lineup due up. Ally Perreault would lead off the inning with a groundball to third base, and the throw would sail over first base and allow her to go to second. It looked as if Crookston had a rally going, but Sacred Heart would get a strikeout, and Perreault would be caught stealing on a strike em out throw em out double play and the Pirates threat was finished.
Sacred Heart would get three straight hits to begin the top of the seventh inning including a triple from Grace Loeslie, and the Eagles would add two insurance runs to take a 15-10 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Aleah Bienek would hit a 1-out single for the Pirates in the final inning, but that would be it, and Sacred Heart would secure their first win of the season 15-10. Maddie Dolan was phenomenal in relief for the Eagles, surrendering only two hits in 5.1 innings of work. She also didn’t give up a run and allowed the Eagles to score 14 unanswered to come from behind for the victory.
Crookston falls to 1-5 on the season and will host GF Central next Monday at 4:30 p.m. Sacred Heart improves to 1-4 on the year with the win.
For Crookston –
Emily Bowman 2 for 3, 2 runs, rbi, BB
Reese Swanson 1 for 3, 2 rbi, BB
Aleah Bienek 1 for 3, rbi, run, BB
Dani Kresl 1 for 1, 2 runs, BB
For Sacred Heart-
Grace Loeslie 2 for 3, 4 runs, 3 SB, rbi, 2 BB
Izzy Cwikla 2 for 3, 2 runs, rbi, BB
Haley Vonasek 2 for 3, 2 runs, rbi, 2 BB
Leah Sundby, 2 rbi, run, BB
Avery Holthaus 3 for 4, rbi, run, SB
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
| Sacred Heart | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 3 |
| Crookston | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 4 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Dani Kresl- Crookston | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 1 |
| Jenna Coauette- Crookston | 5 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 7 |
| Grace Loeslie- Sacred Heart | 1.2 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| Maddie Dolan- Sacred Heart | 5.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
