Because of weather cancellations and wet field conditions, the 2003 softball schedule had become very unbalanced and the Cubs played their first ten games on the road. On Saturday, May 3, the Cubs came home to play their first game of the season in Kimball. Kimball Invitational The team’s first two games were part of the Kimball Invitational Tournament with Royalton and MACCRAY. MACCRAY won the tournament by defeating both Royalton (6-3) and Kimball (8-3). The Cubs also lost to Royalton by a 7-4 margin In the first game, Royalton scored a run in the first inning and the Cubs tied the game in the third when Naomi Kunkel singled, Casey Williams bunted her to second, and Amanda Linn drove her home with a single. The Cubs scored again in the sixth when Tammy Kuechle singled and was driven home by Amelia Hentges’ double. The sixth and seventh innings were the downfall for the Cubs as the Royals scored six runs (two in the sixth and four in the seventh). The Royals used six hits, two walks and an error to tally their runs. The Cubs scored twice in the seventh with Jessica Gully and Kunkel scoring on a double by Williams and another single by Linn. However, it was too little too late and the Royals prevailed by a 7-4 score. Leading the Cubs were Amanda Linn, Amelia Hentges, and Naomi Kunkel who each had two hits. Pitcher Jenny Gully gave up four earned runs, struck out three and walked three. Tammy Kuechle made her pitching debut as relief, getting the final out in the seventh inning. In the second game against MACCRAY, the Cubs seemed to follow the pattern of most of the team’s games this season. The Wildcats scored five runs in the third and three more in the fifth but didn’t score in any other inning. They had six singles and an error to score their five runs and then used three errors and one hit to get three more. The Cubs managed two runs in the second inning using three walks and a base hit from Wil-liams. The Wildcats switched pitchers and the Cubs didn’t score again until the seventh when Michelle Condon walked and scored on a base hit by Kunkel. For the game, Erin Montonye was 2-2 with Kunkel, Williams and Jessica Gully each getting one hit. Jenny Gully pitched the complete game with no walks and four strike-outs. Eden Valley-Watkins game Monday’s game with HLW-W was postponed by rain until Friday, so Tuesday marked the CMC home debut of the Cubs against EV-W. The Cubs played their finest defensive game of the season giving up just two runs and not committing a single error. The Eagles had four base runners in the game with three hits and one walk. EV-W scored in the second after a triple and fly ball. The game stood at 1-0 until the fourth when Amelia Hentges singled and then came all the way around to score when the Eagles botched a bunt attempt and threw the ball into right field. Tammy Kuechle scored in the fifth after walking and stealing second when another error on Montonye’s ground ball to third brought her home. The final Kimball run came in the sixth when Jodine Lemke scored her third double of the game. It was an impressive hit. Lemke scored on Jessica Gully’s single to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead going into the seventh. The Eagles mounted a rally with a lead-off double. A walk and double-steal put runners on second and third with a ground out bringing home one run and putting a runner on third. Jenny Gully then came up big with a huge strike out for the second out and snagged a ground ball back up the middle to record the third out and give the Cubs their first win of the season, 3-2. Especially gratifying was the fact that EV-W had defeated the Cubs in their first two games scoring 15 and 12 runs. Lemke was 3-3 with three doubles and Jenny Gully pitched a three-hitter with three strike-outs and one walk. After playing their best game of the season, the Cubs took on second-place Rockford on Thursday, May 8. In their first meeting the Cubs had given the Rockets a game before succumbing 5-2. This time the Cubs were never even in the game. Rockford banged out 11 hits, the Cubs committed six errors, and two Kimball pitchers walked five batters as Rockford overwhelmed the Cubs 15-0. The Cubs managed only two hits by Lemke and Linn. There were only four base runners in the game. Even the umpires had a bad day as they admitted they missed an interference call that would have ended an inning, but the Rockets scored four times with two outs to blow open the game. Upcoming games Friday, May 9, was to be the make-up game with first place HL-W-W, but once again the rain forced a postponement. The Cubs’ schedule for this week will now be St. John’s Prep on Monday, Pierz and HLW-W on Tuesday, Maple Lake on Thursday, and the season finale on Friday against Holdingford. The Region 5A South Subsection begins on Monday, May 19. The seeding for that tournament will be on Wednesday, May 14.
