Gary Riess, Softball CoachThe unseasonable spring weather continued to play havoc with the softball schedule last week. Monday’s game with Big Lake was postponed due to wet field conditions left over from the weekend snow. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader on May 9. The Cubs did play Pierz on Tuesday, and came away with a thrilling 3-2 win. Wednesday and Thursday it was back to the freezer which caused Thursday’s game with BBE to be rescheduled to a doubleheader on Friday. The Cubs fell to BBE twice by scores of 2-1 and 10-3.
The Cubs jumped to a first-inning 1-0 lead over Pierz when Tammy Kuechle scored on an RBI single from Erin Montonye. That lead held up until the fourth inning when Pierz tied the game at 1-1. Pierz took a 2-1 lead with a run in the fifth using a walk and two hits. The Cubs meanwhile were stranding six base-runners, including a bases-loaded situation in the fourth. In the fifth, Kuechle again scored on an RBI double by Montonye to knot the score at 2-2. The bottom of the seventh was led off by Jodine Lemke who doubled. An error and a base hit loaded the bases for Christy Pladson. Pierz drew in the infield and outfield but Pladson made it for naught as she ripped the ball over the leftfielder’s head for a game-winning single as Lemke scored.
For the game Kuechle was 3-4 with two runs scored, Montonye was 2-3 with 2 RBI, Lemke was 2-3, and Pladson 1-3 with an RBI. Jenny Gully picked up her second win of the season pitching all seven innings, giving up eight hits, two earned runs, striking out two and walking one. The real story of the game was the Kimball defense which didn’t make an error, and responded with several excellent fielding plays to back up Gully on the mound.
Friday’s doubleheader at BBE was played in less than comfortable weather. Both pitchers were sharp, and the scoring chances were slim in the first game. The Cubs actually had the greater chances as they out-hit the Jaguars 9-6 for the game. Kimball scored first in the fourth inning when Christy Pladson was driven home by a single from Brandy Stuve. The Cubs, however, left the bases loaded and that would be their only run of the game. In this game the Cubs would strand 10 baserunners as all nine of their hits would be singles, and the BBE pitcher would come up with seven strikeouts to end any Kimball scoring chances. BBE tied the game at 1-1 and the game went to the bottom of the seventh. The first batter popped out but then an error put a runner at first. A flyball to left was the second out, but a dropped popup in the infield for a second error of the inning put runners at first and third. The next hitter doubled to left sending home the winning run in a 2-1 heartbreaker for the Cubs.
Pladson was 3-4 and Kuechle was 2-4 to lead the offense. Lemke, Amanda Linn, Stuve, and Peggy VanNurden also singled for Kimball. Gully went the distance, allowing six hits and one earned run, with three strikeouts and one walk.
After a 15-minute break game two began as the sun and the temperature continued to drop. The Cubs’ defense had some lapses in the first three innings committing three errors which, along with four hits, led to 5 BBE runs, three unearned. The Cubs scored single runs in the first by Kuechle, second by Kim Mackereth, and in the third by Stuve to bring the score to 5-3. In the fifth, the long day got to be too much for Kimball pitcher Jenny Gully, and the Jaguars scored 5 times against Gully and relief pitcher Christy Pladson for a 10-3 lead. After a scoreless sixth by both teams, and with cold temperatures and darkness descending, the game was called with BBE on top by the final score of 10-3.
Kuechle and Pladson were each 2-3 and VanNurden, Mackereth, and Linn each had one hit. Gully went four innings plus for a total of 11 innings for the day and Pladson finished the fifth and recorded a 1-2-3 sixth for two innings of work.
This week it is hoped the weather will cooperate and be more conducive to softball. The Cubs are scheduled to play at HLW-W on Monday, Holdingford on Tuesday, EV-W in a 7 p.m. night game on Thursday, and then the Cubs will host the Kimball Invitational on Saturday, May 4, with Royalton and MACCRAY. The Cubs will play Royalton at 10 a.m. and MACCRAY at 2 p.m.