A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Favorite Carlton falls in sections
South Ridge was set up to play in the Section 7A championship this week against Cherry. It's the second year in a row the Panthers have reached the final. The top seed, Carlton, was ousted Tuesday.
Elisabeth Kachinski of Cromwell-Wright winds up against Barnum.
Look out now, but there will be a new Section 7A champion in girls softball this season. In a day of upsets, the South Ridge Panthers - under first year coach Roger Plachta - put the Carlton Bulldogs in the losers bracket with a 1-0 loss and then the Cherry Tigers eliminated the 'Dogs with a 5-2 win later in the day.
The Panthers enter the section championship for the second year in a row, but this time they will be taking on the Cherry Tigers and not the Carlton Bulldogs.
South Ridge rode the strong pitching of Melania Madill, who gave up just five hits, one walk and struck out 10 Carlton batters, to the 1-0 victory.
"I thought Carlton had the best team and the best hitters in the tournament coming in," said Panthers head coach Roger Plachta. "Madill pitched her best game of the year for us at the right time."
The Bulldogs feature a veteran-laden team that puts the bat on the ball, but Plachta had a plan after watching Carlton earlier in the tournament and this season.
"We just tried to jam them as much as possible," commented Plachta. "Our pitcher was able to hit her spots. If you can't hit your spots it doesn't matter what pitches you call, but she was able to hit them and that helped a lot."
The Panthers lone run came in the top of the fourth inning when Natalie Smith drove in the only run of the ball game with two outs. Mary Lisic added two hits for the Panthers and Natalie Lisic added a double for the winners.
Carlton pitcher Brynne Mickle allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out seven in taking the loss.
The Bulldogs were eliminated from the tournament in a 5-2 loss to Cherry later in the day as Lauren Staples, the Tigers pitcher, allowed only two hits to the Bulldogs in picking up the pitching victory.
Carlton vs Ely, Barnum
After opening the Section 7A playoffs as the top seed and picking up an 11-0 win in their first game over Floodwood, Carlton found things a bit tougher last Thursday in taking wins over both Ely and Barnum.
The Bulldogs rode the strong arm of Brynne Mickle to a 5-3 win over Ely in a game that saw Mickle give up just two hits.
"Against Ely we just started out slow and flat in the field in the first inning, but after that we played fine," Carlton coach Melissa Clark said. "Brynne (Mickle) pitched well and our defense was solid after the first inning."
The offensive charge for the Bulldogs was led by Taylor Nelson who banged out three hits in a 3 for 4 performance at the plate and Mickle helped her own cause with a pair of hits.
Carlton followed up the win against Ely by beating Barnum 8-6 also on Thursday.
The Bulldogs scored a single run in the first inning when Mickle tripled and scored on a ground-out by Alaina Bennett. They added two runs in the bottom of the third when both Maddie DeCaigney and Taylor Nelson score to make it 3-0.
Barnum responded in the top of the fourth with two runs of their own.
South Ridge vs. Nashwauk-Keewatin, Cherry
The Panthers got a big pitching performance from Melania Madill who gave up just two hits while pitching the complete game shutout Thursday, May 23 against Nashwauk-Keewatin to win 6-0. Madill struck out seven and walked three in picking up the pitching win. Alana Young scored a pair of runs for the Panthers and Mary Lisic had a double with an RBI and Shayna Preston also had an RBI for the winners.
Madill went the distance in the shutout over the perennial power Tigers in a 1-0 win for South Ridge later that day. Madill gave up eight hits and walked one Tiger batter. Mary Lisic added two hits and a run scored and Natalie Lisic stole a pair of bases in the win.
The Panthers defeated Wrenshall 10-0 in five innings May 21 to start their playoff run.
Barnum vs Cromwell-Wright, MIB
Barnum defeated the Cardinals 8-1 in the first round on the Section 7A playoffs May 21. Mendota Castonguay outdueled Elisabeth Kachinske to pick up the pitching win for the Bombers. Castonguay allowed just five hits while striking out seven Cards hitters. Izabell Carlson had a pair of doubles to go along with four RBIs and two runs scored to help lead the Bombers attack. Jessica Stevens added three hits and an RBI, Anna Wikstrom had two hits and a pair of runs scored and Lacie O'Leary went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
On May 23, Mendota Castonguay gave up seven hits, struck out five and did not walk a batter as the Bombers won handily in a 14-6 game over the Rangers. Madison Warnygora had two hits and two runs scored, Jessica Stephens had an RBI to go along with a pair of hits, Katelyn Buell rapped out a triple among her two hits and she scored three times and had three RBIs. The Bombers also got a double and two hits from Lacie O'Leary, two hits and an RBI and two runs scored from Castonguay and a pair of hits and an RBI from Anna Wikstrom.
