Eagles softball splits with Royals and in a weekend tournament

Royalton (Game one)

The Eagles softball team finished with just six hits in its opening game of a home doubleheader versus the Royalton Royals, but also took advantage of some Royal pitching wildness. Behind a strong pitching performance and an opportunistic offense, the Eagles pulled away for the 11-1 win via the 10-run rule in five innings May 8.

“Kamryn [Mathies] pitched well,” Eagles head coach Dave Dziengel said via email. “We had very good plate discipline as we collected five walks in this game.”

In the winning effort, Mathies gave up one run, unearned, on four hits and two walks, and struck out one over five innings.

Offensively, the Eagles scored a run in the first before allowing the Royals to tie the game with a run in the top of the second inning. The Eagles retook the lead with four in the bottom of the inning, and broke the game open with six runs in the third to provide for the final margin.

Laura Heuring led the Eagles, going two-for-three with two-doubles.

Royalton (Game two)

Game two of the doubleheader didn’t go the Eagles’ way, as coach Dziengel highlighted, for several reasons.

Leading 11-9 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Eagles came one out away from another win. Instead, an error and RBI walk tied the game, and a bases-loaded hit by pitch sent the Eagles to an 12-11 walk-off loss in game two.

“We simply didn’t play good enough defense,” coach Dziengel said via email, “and throw enough strikes to hold onto the win.”

For the game, the Eagles committed six errors, walked nine, and  gave up seven unearned runs.

After giving up six runs in the bottom of the fifth to trail 9-7, the Eagles did rally back with four runs in the top of the sixth to take that 11-9 lead, a rally coach Dziengel was proud to see from his team.

Offensively, the Eagles posted 10 hits and seven walks.  Alison Thielen led the Eagles, going four-for-five with a double and triple.

Kamryn Mathies took the loss in relief, giving up three runs on one hit and five walks, and striking out five over two and two-thirds innings.

Wheaton/Herman-Norcross

Playing at the Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg tournament May 10, the Eagles opened its action versus the Wheaton-Herman-Norcross Warriors. The Eagles scored in every inning but the sixth, including a three-run second inning, and took a 7-0 lead into the sixth. The Eagles gave up four runs in the sixth, but held off the Warriors for the 7-4 victory.

Coach Dziengel considered it a good first game to the tournament for his group. He highlighted how his team played “good” defensively, only committing the one error.

He also pointed out how his starter Kamryn Mathies pitched “great” for five innings before running into some control problems in the sixth. Mathies gave up four runs on one hit and nine walks, and struck out nine over five and two-thirds innings to earn the win. Hayley Berg came in to pitch in relief, getting the final out in the sixth before pitching a scoreless seventh inning to earn the save, giving up one hit and walking two.

Offensively, the Eagles posted 12 hits. Lily Schultz led the Eagles, going three-for-three. Alison Thielen, Zoey Schmidt, and Ella Anderson each finished two-for-four to also pace the Eagles.

Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg

Trailing 5-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Eagles pushed across two runs to draw within one, and had the tying run at third base with one out. The Eagles could not push that run across, falling to the tournament host team Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg by a 5-4 final.

Trailing 4-0, the Eagles got on the board by cutting the deficit in half with two runs in the -bottom of the fifth. Coach Dziengel thought his starting pitcher Hayley Berg pitched well, and his team played decent defense.

“We just could not get people on base until the fifth and seventh innings,” coach Dziengel said of the loss via email.

Berg gave up five runs, four earned, on nine hits and four walks, and struck out three over seven innings to pick up the loss. Defensively, the Eagles committed two errors.

Offensively, the Eagles posted five hits in the game. Lily Schultz led the team, finishing two-for-three.