The 2003 regular season concluded last week with Kimball playing five games in four days. The Cubs finished with their best week of the season winning two of the five games. St. John’s Prep The week began with Kimball hosting St. John’s Prep. The Cubs scored early and often in their best offensive output of the season. Kimball scored five in the first, four in the second, five more in the third, and seven in the fourth for a total of 19 runs. Eleven Kimball players scored runs. Amelia Hentges and Erin Montonye scored three times, Amanda Linn, Tammy Kuechle, Jodine Lemke, and Jessica Gully scored twice and Andrea Miller, Jen Schefers, Michelle Condon, Jill Libbesmeier, and Ashley Capes scored one run apiece. Senior pitcher Jenny Gully gave up two runs on six hits while striking out 7 and walking one. The 19-2 final score was Kimball’s biggest win of the season. Double header action Tuesday brought a double header for the Cubs. Kimball played Pierz in the first game at 4:30 p.m. and then made up a rained out contest with HLW at 6 p.m. After Monday’s big win the Cubs did themselves one better by playing an even better game against Pierz. In a complete team effort of both offense and defense the Cubs shut out Pierz 10-0. Jenny Gully pitched a five inning three hit shutout with three strikeouts and no walks. Tammy Kuechle lead the offense with a 4-4 game with two doubles and three RBI. She also scored two runs as did Jessica Gully, Jenna Stenger, and Casey Williams. Montonye, Lemke and Williams also had doubles for Kimball. The second game was a much tougher task as first place Howard Lake-Waverly came to town. HL-W would complete CMC action at a perfect 14-0 record but the Cubs made them work for it. Kimball jumped out to a 2-1 lead with runs by Kuechle and Montonye. HL-W took a 3-2 lead after three innings but the Cubs tied it in the fifth when Montonye scored again. The game was tight throughout with each team making the defensive plays to keep the game tied. HL-W broke through in the seventh using a walk, and error and two sacrifices to score twice and claim a 5-3 win. Both games with HL-W this season were decided in the seventh inning, but the Lakers came out on top both times on their way to the CMC conference championship. Maple Lake After a day of rest on Wednesday the Cubs were back in action on Thursday against third place Maple Lake. However, before the Cubs woke up they found themselves in an 8-1 hole after three innings. The Kimball defense was very shaky, especially in a six run third inning for the Irish. The Cubs could have packed it in for another day but they came back with four runs to make it 8-5. Linn, Lemke, Montonye, and Jessica Gully got hits and scored. The Cubs tacked on four more runs in the fourth with Lemke, Montonye, Hentges, and Condon scoring to tie the game at 9-9. Maple Lake added three runs in the sixth and the Cubs got two back in the bottom of the inning with Condon and Jessica Gully scoring. That set the stage for the seventh with the Irish holding a 12-11 lead. With two outs in the seventh the Cubs made three straight errors to plate two more runs and thus faced a 14-11 deficit in their final at bat. The Cubs got two runners aboard but the Maple Lake pitcher got herself out of the jam with two strike outs and the Irish held on for a 14-11 win. Holdingford Friday brought Holdingford to Kimball for the final game of the regular season. On Thursday the Cubs scored 11 runs but fell apart on defense, on Friday the defense showed up but the bats were silent and the Cubs fell to the Huskers 6-0. Kimball managed five hits, two by Linn, but could not string more than one hit together at a time. Holdingford scored single runs in the second, and third with two tallies each in the fourth and fifth. That brings the 2003 regular season to a close. After a slow start the Cubs did get better as the season wore on and the second half played some very competitive games. Kimball’s top three hitters were Hentges (.368), Kuechle (.339), and Montonye (.322). Team average was a low .244. Kimball’s top fielders were Hentges (.952), Montonye (.925), Williams (.909), and Kuechle (.900). Team fielding average was .855. Jenny Gully did the bulk of the pitching with 116 innings pitched and an ERA of 3.98. The Cubs began Section 5A subsection playoffs on Monday, May 19 as the number seven seed. They will be traveling to Upsala to take on the second seed. The semifinals are Tuesday and the Finals Thursday at Whitney fields in St. Cloud.
