80th Article at the Independent

PREP SOFTBALL: Area teams compete in Marshall tournament

CHRIS DRUMMOND cdrummond@marshallindependent.com

MARSHALL — A few area softball teams converged in Marshall on Saturday afternoon to compete in the Marshall tournament. Marshall, Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove and Russell-Tyler-Ruthton joined Montevideo, Windom Area, Luverne, Redwood Valley and Lac qui Parle Valley, with Marshall winning both of its games while RRC/WWG earned a split and RTR fell in both games.

Marshall

Marshall played Redwood Valley in its first game of the tournament. The Tigers’ bats woke up early and often as they would score 15 runs in the first three innings and end up winning by that same amount in just four innings of play.

Morgan Bjella led Marshall with three hits and three RBIs while Ashleigh Steinbach and Randi Wendorff each added two hits and two RBIs and Harley Beek had two hits and three RBIs. Beek earned the win in the circle, going three innings while allowing no runs on just one hit and struck out four.

The Tigers would then play Luverne, who entered ranked No. 8 in Class AA, in a defensive battle in their final game of the tournament. No score was made in the first three innings of the game but in the top of the fourth inning, the Cardinals would strike first behind an RBI single from Ella Reisdorfer, giving them the early lead. However, the Tigers responded by taking advantage of an error before third baseman Lexie Bednarek tied the game up at one. Bednarek would score two of the three runs for the Tigers as they would go on to win 3-1 over the Cardinals.

Marshall head coach Jack Houseman spoke on the team’s performance and earning their 10th win of the season.

“We pitched well, made defensive plays and we got the job done, was able to get our 10th victory,” Houseman said. “We took advantage of stealing bases, put the ball in play and it was good to get everyone in for playing time they deserved. We have seven games next week, so keeping everyone healthy and continue playing hot is key.”

Bednarek led the team with two hits and also spoke after the victory.

“I thought we played really well and when the energy is there, this team can go really far,” Bednarek said. She also elaborated on next week and what the focus will be on.

“I think keep staying consistent and being healthy, keep our bats rolling, keep balls in the infield on defense and our outfield by getting that extra ball.”

Regan Loft added a go-ahead RBI single while Taylor Ariasola, Lauren Wherry, Leah Schaefer and Wendorff each had a hit for Marshall. Olivia Houseman earned the win in the circle, going four innings while allowing one run on four hits and struck out four.

Marshall will face Pipestone Area on the road today at 4 p.m.

RRC/WWG

Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove faced off against the Lac Qui Parle Valley Eagles in its first game of the tournament. The Eagles got out to a quick lead and didn’t look back. The Falcons couldn’t find their bats as they fell to the Eagles 10-0. In its second game of the tournament, RRC/WWG played against Montevideo. This game would go differently for the Falcons as they managed to score 18 runs which would be the highest score of the day and earned them a split in the tournament, winning 18-9 over Montevideo. RRC/WWG head coach Derek Stevenson assessed his team’s performance in getting a split in the tournament.

“First game we played really well, 2-0 going into bottom of the fourth, but it went downhill after a couple of injuries we had,” Stevenson said. “Second game we hit the ball pretty well, ran the bases well and scored 18 runs. Every time we got to the top of our lineup, we were able to get speed on the bases and bat around.”

No RRC/WWG stats were available at press time.

RRC/WWG will face Springfield on the road on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

RTR

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton would face off against Luverne in its first game action of the day. The Cardinals would score 13 runs in the ballgame and the Knights couldn’t get any offense going. RTR starting catcher Laken Baartman led the team with two hits while Ragan Mitchell and Lily Klumper each added a hit. Kya Alderson took the loss in the circle, going seven innings while allowing 13 runs on 15 hits and struck out nine.

It wouldn’t be much better in RTR’s second game against Windom. After facing a two-run deficit, the Knights would get two runners on base, but a double play would end the inning. There were multiple times where the Knights had runners on base but couldn’t drive them in and Windom came up with some timely hits to extend their lead to 5-0, which the Eagles would win by the final score of 9-0.

RTR starting shortstop Madi Burns had two hits while Alderson and Klumper each had a hit. Alderson took the loss in the circle, going seven innings while allowing nine runs on seven hits and struck out eight.

The Knights looked visibly frustrated throughout the game and head coach Darren Baartman advocated the message to the team after the two losses in the tournament.

“First game we played against a really good Luverne team, we gave them some extra outs but credit to them they’re a good team,” coach Baartman said. “Second game, we never got that momentum going, left a lot of runners on base. They just kinda sucked the life out of us and Windom’s a good team.”

RTR will face KMS at home today at 4:30 p.m.