Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Mankato East rallies for win in opener, shuts out WSHS in nightcap
 Mankato East catcher EJ Scharmer tags out Winona Senior High's Kim Hawthorne at home plate Tuesday during a Big Nine Conference match-up at the WSHS softball field. (photo by Katie Derus/Winona Daily News) |
Fresh off a pair of defeats at two-time defending Big Nine Conference champion Mankato West, Winona Senior High School’s softball team hosted another elite conference opponent from Mankato.
The results were similarly deflating.
Mankato East swept the Winhawks 5-4 and 5-0 Tuesday at WSHS, pushing the Winhawks’ losing streak to four.
“We played Mankato West and Mankato East,” WSHS coach Dave Heise said. “That’s the issue.”
The Winhawks (3-4, 3-4) climbed back from a 3-0 deficit in Game 1 and looked poised to pull off a comeback against the Cougars and hard-throwing ace Laura Vanderhoof.
WSHS senior Jennifer Bowlin drove in Kim Hawthorne and Sam Bronk with a one-out, two-run double in the fifth to pull the Winhawks within 3-2.
Three batters later, senior Krissa Foegen reached base on an error as two more Winhawks scored to put WSHS up 4-3.
Foegen staved off a Mankato East rally in the sixth, but things unraveled for the Winhawks in the seventh.
Mankato East’s Karli DesLauriers drove in the tying run with an RBI single. The Cougars went up for good, 5-4, on a WSHS throwing error later in the inning.
“In the long run, errors catch up with you,” Bowlin said. “We need to execute a little more. Maybe we could have gotten lucky with the bats, but honestly it was our errors that let them win the game.”
Vanderhoof piled up 16 strikeouts and picked up her first win of two on the day.
Bowlin went 1-for-3 with a double, run and two RBIs. Hawthorne went 1-for-3 with a double and a run.
Vanderhoof got stronger as the day progressed and carried a perfect game into the sixth inning of Game 2.
WSHS’s Megan Flanigan broke up the perfect game with a sharp double with one out in the sixth, but the Winhawks could only muster two more hits in the seventh and went down quietly.
“I don’t think you can fault the pitching,” Heise said. “Occasionally they got the ball up a bit, but we need to move the ball more on offense. We moved it enough the first game, but not the second game.”
WSHS’s Erin Buswell pitched a complete game and struck out 10, while allowing just seven hits and two earned runs. Flanigan, Hawthorne and Jessica Fratzke had the Winhawks’ hits.
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