After plenty of postponements, the Crookston Pirate Softball team opened their season on Monday afternoon against the Ada-Borup-West Cougars. The Pirates gave up 15 runs in the first two innings and couldn’t overcome errors and walks, falling in the game 18-5 in five innings.
FIRST INNING –
The Pirates were the visiting team even though the game was played on their field, as the game was supposed to be played in Ada but had to be moved to Crookston. Isabel Pahlen worked a one-out walk, and Kambelle Freije delivered a two-out single to put runners on first and second base with two outs. Reese Swanson would then give the ball a drive to left field, but the Cougars would make the catch to end the inning and keep the Pirates scoreless in the top half of the first inning.
The Cougars wasted no time to score, as their first five hitters of the game reached base on three walks, one error, and a single to make it a quick 2-0 lead. Crookston pitcher Emily Bowman would then record a strikeout before a walk, another error, and a double scored five more runs to make it 7-0. Bowman would strike out two more hitters to end the inning, but Ada-Borup-West took a 7-0 lead into the second inning.
SECOND INNING –
After the Pirates went 1-2-3 in the top of the second, the Cougars would add 8 more runs in the bottom of the frame to go up 15-0. The inning started with a walk, strikeout, hit batter, and another walk to load the bases with one out. Another Crookston error would bring two more runs in, and the next three hitters would all reach base after that as well before the second out of the inning would be recorded. With the score 14-0 in favor of the Cougars at this point, another walk would score one more run to make it 15-0 before Bowman would strikeout her fifth hitter of the game to end the inning.
THIRD INNING –
The Pirates would get another base runner in the third inning as Emily Bowman would reach on an error with one out, but the Pirates would strand her on third base. Allysen Wagner would come in to pitch for the Pirates in the bottom of the third. Wagner would get the first hitter she faced out, but a walk, single, and walk loaded the bases with one out. A tapper out in front of home plate would be fielded by Pirates catcher Reese Swanson who would race back to home and apply a tag to prevent a run and get the second out of the inning with a great defensive play. It was once again a Pirates error that extended the inning however with the next hitter reaching base, and after back-to-back walks, the Cougars had made it 18-0 before the inning was over.
FOURTH INNING –
The Pirates offense finally broke through in the fourth inning. Crookston got a leadoff single from Kambelle Freije, and after a pop-out, the Pirates would get a hit from Leah Johanneck, and Emilee Tate would reach on an error to load the bases. Alex Luna would then crush a triple to right field to bring all three Pirates runners home and make it an 18-3 ball game. Luna would later come in to score herself and the Pirates had trimmed the deficit to 18-4 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the frame, Wagner struck out the first two hitters she faced, and got the final hitter to groundout to second base, for a 1-2-3 inning that was the best defensive inning of the day for Crookston.
FIFTH INNING –
The Pirates would need at least five runs in the fifth inning to avoid the 10-run rule and keep the game alive. Reese Swanson would drive a one out double off the base of the wall in left field and advance to third on a groundout as the Pirates would be down to their last out. The Cougars catcher would overthrow a ball back to the pitcher in between pitches, and Swanson would scamper home to score and make it 18-5 Ada-Borup-West. Emilee Tate and Alex Luna would then hit back-to-back singles but they would be left on base as the Cougars would record the final out and win the game 18-5 due to the 10-run rule after five innings.
Crookston drops to 0-1 on the season while Ada-Borup-West improves to 1-0.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E | |
| CROOKSTON | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 5 |
| Ada-Borup-West | 7 | 8 | 3 | 0 | X | 18 | 6 | 3 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Emily Bowman- Crox (LP) | 2 | 5 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 5 |
| Allysen Wagner- Crox | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Callie Solseng- A-B-W (WP) | 5 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
For Crookston
Alex Luna 2 for 3, Triple, 3RBI, Run
Allysen Wagner 1 for 1, RBI
Kambelle Freije 2 for 3, Run
Reese Swanson 1 for 3, 2B, Run
For Ada-Borup-West
Holly Flom 1 for 2, 3B, 2RBI, 2 Runs
Chantel Kesselberg 2 for 2, 2B, 3RBI, Run
Carlie Nerhus 0 for 1, 2BB, 2RBI, Run
