GRANTSBURG – A team in the race for a Lakeland West title hosted a challenger for the Heart O’ North title on Monday.
The Grantsburg softball team – undefeated in conference play and in a close race with Shell Lake for the Lakeland West crown – hosted a St. Croix Falls team that entered the week just a half game out of the Heart O’ North lead. While the game didn’t affect either conference’s standings, it was the home team that helped its overall record.
The Pirates scored the game’s only runs in the first inning and held that advantage throughout for a 2-0 win over the Saints. Piper Olson pitched a complete-game shutout, striking out five and allowing only one run.
Whitney Meyers provided the offense for Grantsburg, following a Renee Tooze single with a two-run home run. Ruby Rengo followed with a double to potentially add to the lead but Bryn Connors, who pitched three wins for St. Croix Falls last week and totaled 42 strikeouts, kept the Pirates hitless for the remainder of the game.
Unfortunately for the Saints, Olson allowed only two to reach base in the game. Azalea Frokjer had St. Croix Falls’ lone hit.
Connors pitched a complete game in the loss, allowing three hits and striking out 10.
Grantsburg goes to Bloomer on Thursday and to Thorp for two games on Saturday before returning home for a doubleheader against Shell Lake on Tuesday. The Saints host Spooner for two games on Thursday and go to Ashland on Friday before hosting St. Croix Central on Monday.
Grantsburg 6, Hermantown 5
The Pirates erased a three-run deficit with a four-run at bat in the sixth inning to take a win in the Andover Invitational on Saturday.
Grantsburg took the early lead with an RBI single from Maddie Schafer and a bases-loaded walk to Vanessa Wickstrom. Hermantown took a 4-2 lead in the third inning with four consecutive hits.
The Pirates trailed 5-2 to start the sixth inning and scored all four of their runs with two outs. The first run was scored on a bases-loaded error and took the lead with a two-run single from Meyers.
Renee Tooze scored two runs for the Pirates; Megan Schafer had a hit and two runs scored.
Meyers pitched all six innings, striking out six.
Zumbrota-Mazeppa 9, Grantsburg 2
The Pirates scored two first-inning runs but were held scoreless for the remainder in their second game of the Andover Invitational on Saturday.
Whitney Meyers and Ruby Rengo had RBI singles for Grantsburg in the first inning. However, the Pirates managed just three singles in the rest of the game.
Meyers and Rengo had two hits and an RBI each; Renee Tooze had a hit and a run scored.
Meyers pitched three innings and had one strikeout; Piper Olson pitched two innings and had five strikeouts.
Unity 9, Osceola 5
The Eagles had a six-run second inning and added three more runs in the third inning of a road win on Saturday.
Kyra Cox and Nevaeh Schultz each had a two-run single in the second inning before Kira Kamish hit a two-run home run. Cox had another RBI single in the third inning, where the Eagles also got runs from a bases-loaded walk and a fielder’s choice.
Ashley Johnson had two hits and two runs scored for Unity; Josie Fugate and Lexi Nadeau scored two runs each and Madison Wilhelm had a hit and an RBI.
Peyton Zipperer pitched all seven innings, striking out three.
Grantsburg 11, Webster-Siren 0
Whitney Meyers pitched a complete-game win for the Pirates on Thursday, striking out eight and allowing just three hits.
Grantsburg scored six runs in the top of the first inning, getting RBI doubles from Meyers, Vanessa Wickstrom and Megan Schafer.
Meyers finished with three hits and two RBIs; Renee Tooze had two hits, a run scored and two RBIs; Schafer had two hits, a run scored and an RBI; Carley Gross scored two runs and Piper Olson had a hit, two runs scored and an RBI.
Unity 5, Frederic-Luck 3
The Eagles erased a 3-2 Frederic-Luck lead with a three-run at bat in the bottom of the sixth to take a home win on Thursday.
Frederic-Luck took a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning with a fielder’s choice from Karlie Bartlett and an RBI single from Shaedyn Demoe.
Josie Fugate hit a fielder’s choice to tie the game in the bottom of the inning and Maddie Anderson hit an RBI single for the game-winning runs.
Fugate had two hits, three runs scored and an RBI for Unity; Kira Kamish had two hits, a run scored and two RBIs while Ashley Johnson had a hit and a run scored.
Peyton Zipperer pitched a complete game, striking out five.
Hailey Ridgeway had two hits and a run scored for Frederic-Luck; Grace Nelson had a hit and a run scored while Shaedyn Demoe and Sophie Eder had a hit and an RBI each.
Maddie Nyman pitched six innings with two strikeouts.
SCF 14, Ladysmith 4
A seven-run fifth-inning at bat secured a road win for the Saints on Thursday.
Bryn Connors and Azalea Frokjer had RBI hits in the first inning to help St. Croix Falls to an early lead.
The Saints were up 5-3 going into the fifth inning, where they scored seven two-out runs with the help of three Ladysmith errors. Aaliyah Lopez, Amber Bateman and Connors had RBI hits in the inning.
Bateman finished with four hits, four runs scored and two RBIs; Connors had three hits and five RBIs; Krysta Cole had two hits and three RBIs.
Connors pitched all seven innings, striking out 16.
Webster-Siren 11, Frederic-Luck 6
The Storm opened an 11-0 lead before Frederic-Luck got on the board with a six-run fifth inning in the opener of a doubleheader on May 2.
Kateri St. John had two hits, three runs scored and two RBIs for Webster-Siren; Kylee Lindquist had two hits, a run scored and an RBI; Izabella Hill and Trish St. John each had a hit, a run scored and two RBIs; Abbigale Smith had two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs and Lilly Johnson scored two runs.
Trish St. John pitched a complete game win, striking out four.
Webster-Siren 18, Frederic-Luck 17
After falling behind 15-13, the Storm had a five-run fifth inning and held on for the win in the second game of a doubleheader on May 2.
Kylee Lindquist led the Storm with four hits, three runs scored and three RBIs; Elli Smith had three hits, a run scored and two RBIs; Kateri St. John had two hits, three runs scored and three RBIs; Izabella Hill had three hits, a run scored and an RBI; Trish St. John had two hits, a run scored and three RBIs and Abbigale Smith had two hits and four runs scored.
Trish St. John pitched two innings for the win, striking out one.
Grantsburg 20, CTL 1
The Pirates scored 14 runs in the first inning and claimed the win in the first game of a doubleheader against Clayton-Turtle Lake on May 2.
Grantsburg drew 16 walks in the game despite just three innings being played.
Piper Olson had a hit, a run scored and five RBIs for the Pirates; Madison Schafer had a hit, two runs scored and three RBIs; Abby Rombach scored three runs and had an RBI while Megan Schafer, Renee Tooze, Whitney Meyers and Vanessa Wickstrom scored two runs each.
Olson pitched all three innings, striking out six and allowing two hits.
Grantsburg 13, CTL 1
Grantsburg capitalized on six Clayton-Turtle Lake errors and drew seven walks to win the second game of the doubleheader in five innings on May 2.
Madison Schafer had two hits, a run scored and three RBIs for the Pirates; Abby Rombach had two hits, a run scored and an RBI; Carley Gross had a hit and three runs scored and Ashlyn Lener had a hit, a run scored and an RBI.
Gross pitched all five innings, striking out six and allowing four hits.
Shell Lake 10, Unity 1
Shell Lake allowed only one hit while capitalizing on nine Unity errors in its win in the first game of a doubleheader on May 2.
The Lakers scored three runs in each of the first three innings in the game, which ended shy of five innings.
Ashley Johnson had Unity’s lone hit; Josie Fugate scored the team’s lone run and Alexis Molamphy had the RBI.
Peyton Zipperer pitched all four innings, striking out two.
Shell Lake 19, Unity 7
The Eagles were more productive at the plate in the second game of the doubleheader on May 2, but so were the Lakers.
Shell Lake scored 12 first-inning runs and went up 17-0 after scoring five more in the top of the second inning. Unity scored in each of its four remaining at bats though it wasn’t enough to avoid the game coming to an early end after five innings.
Ava Mattson had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI for Unity; Ashley Johnson and Kira Kamish had a hit, a run scored and an RBI each; Fugate and Maddie Anderson had a hit and run scored each.
Madison Wilhelm pitched over four innings and had seven strikeouts.
SCF 6, C-W 5
Bryn Connors delivered the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the seventh to give St. Croix Falls a win in the first game of a doubleheader on May 2.
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser took a 5-1 lead with a four-run at bat in the top of the third but the Saints held it scoreless for the remainder.
Connors hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third to pull the Saints within two runs at 5-3 and a fielder’s choice from Azalea Frokjer made it a 5-4 game in the fourth inning.
The game was tied in the fifth inning when Lydia Bainbridge scored on a wild pitch.
Connors finished with two hits, three RBIs and a run scored; Bateman had two hits and two runs scored; Frokjer had two hits and an RBI while Emilee Glenna had a hit and a run scored.
Connors also pitched a complete game, striking out 17.
SCF 19, C-W 2
The Saints totaled 22 hits and capped the game with an eight-run at bat in the top of the seventh to win the second game of a doubleheader on May 2.
Lydia Bainbridge had four hits and three runs scored for St. Croix Falls; Azalea Frokjer had four hits, two runs scored and four RBIs; Bryn Connors had three hits and three RBIs; Madi Johnson had two hits, three runs scored and two RBIs; Emilee Glenna had two hits, two runs scored and three RBIs; Abigail Wynne had two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs; Krysta Cole had two hits and two runs scored while Aaliyah Lopez had two hits, a run scored and two RBsI.
Connors pitched another complete-game win, striking out nine.
