A busy softball season continues

Gary O. Riess Softball CoachThe hectic schedule necessitated by the strange spring weather lead the Kimball softball team to play five games last week. The Cubs finished the week with a 2-3 record but every game was close and all five games could have gone either way. Kimball defeated HL-W-W and Royalton and lost to Holdingford, EV-W, and MACCRAY.

Monday started the second round of CMC conference play at HL-W. The Lakers had defeated the Cubs in the first meeting, but this time the tables were turned as the Cubs knocked off the Lakers by a 7-3 score. Kimball scored first when Tammy Kuechle was driven home by Erin Montonye. That score held up till the third inning, when the Lakers used two hits and two errors to score three unearned runs. The Cubs came back in the fifth with four runs using two hits, two walks and two errors. Jenny Gully, Jodine Lemke, Kuechle and Montonye scored with RBI going to Montonye, Brandy Stuve, and Kim Mackereth. The Cubs added two more runs in the seventh, with Montonye scoring her second run of the game along with Peggy VanNurden. The Kimball defense did the rest as the Lakers were shut out for the rest of the game and Kimball won by a 7-3 margin. Gully picked up the win going seven innings with no earned runs, four strikeouts and one walk. Montonye was 3-4 with two RBI and Kuechle was 2-3 with two runs scored.

Holdingford was Tuesday’s opponent. The game sailed along with neither team able to mount much offense, until the Huskers tallied four runs in the fourth inning. A bases-loaded triple did the most damage. Down 4-0, the Cubs rallied in the fifth. After Gully and Lemke had reached base via error, Amanda Linn doubled them both home. Tammy Kuechle then singled home Linn and the game was 4-3. In the seventh, the Cubs needed a run to keep the game going. With one out, Lemke singled. After another out, Kuechle singled and then Christy Pladson singled home Lemke with the tying run. The bottom of the seventh belonged to Holdingford. Their leadoff hitter singled and then two errors brought home the deciding run as the Huskers won the game 5-4. Linn, Kuechle, Pladson, and Kim Mackereth each had two hits. Gully pitched seven innings, giving up two earned runs, five hits, with three strikeouts and two walks.

On a brisk and windy Thursday evening the Cubs and the EV-W Eagles played their annual night game at Eden Valley. Perhaps the lateness of the game affected the Cubs because they played their worst defensive game of the season. Eight Kimball errors, including six in the second and third innings, accounted for 6 unearned EV-W runs. The Cubs had 11 hits to the Eagles five, but the Cubs stranded nine runners on base and could only account for four runs in a 6-4 loss. Linn, Montonye, and Mackereth each had two hits and Christy Pladson had a triple, but that couldn’t overcome the Cubs defensive lapses as the Eagles prevailed. Gully again went the distance allowing five hits, no earned run, walking one and striking out three.

The Kimball Invitational was played on Saturday with Royalton and MACCRAY providing the opposition. Royalton and Kimball squared off at 10 a.m. The Cubs must have missed the wakeup call as the Royals struck for three runs in their first at bat. A double and three singles gave the Royals a three-run lead, but that would account for all the scoring they would do, as Gully and the Kimball defense shut them out for the next six innings. The Cubs tied the game in the second with Pladson, Montonye, and VanNurden scoring off their hits. Angie Garding also singled in the inning. Linn doubled and scored in the third for a 4-3 lead. Lemke added a run in the fifth and Kuechle tacked on another in the sixth, but the Royals’ offense couldn’t muster any threats and the Cubs prevailed by a 6-3 margin. VanNurden had two hits with six other players, each having a hit and six different players scored.

Royalton was then defeated by MACCRAY 10-3 in the next game. That set the stage for the Kimball-MACCRAY game to decide the tournament. The game was a pitchers’ duel between the Cubs’ Jenny Gully and the Wolverines’ Molly Dammann. MACCRAY came out on top by a 2-0 score. In the third, a triple drove home the first run with two outs in the inning. The score held until the sixth when MACCRAY added a second run with two base hits. Otherwise, it was a game of defense. Both teams played very well in the field and many possible hits were taken away by good fielding. For the Cubs, Kim Mackereth made two outstanding catches in centerfield and third basemen Jodine Lemke made a running catch as she crashed into the fence. Tammy Kuechle was steady, as usual, at shortstop and Peggy VanNurden went high to rob a possible extra base hit at second. Gully went seven innings striking out 6 and walking none. However, MACCRAY’s pitcher and defense were also in fine form as they came up with the plays when needed. The Cubs stranded nine baserunners as they couldn’t come up with a big hit with runners in scoring position. Angie Garding reached base three times, but was twice stranded at third. The Cubs had four runners reach third but none could advance the final 60 feet to score.

This week sees another four-game schedule. Monday, at second place Rockford, Tuesday, a rematch with third-place Holdingford in the final home game of the season, and then a tall order on Thursday. The Cubs will travel to Big Lake for a doubleheader against the undefeated and conference-leading Hornets. The Hornets are ranked sixth in the state in class 2A. On Wednesday, May 8, the Section 5A South Division seeding meeting will be held, as the state playoffs are scheduled to begin May 17.