No 2. Warriors pull out 1-0 win over No. 7 Flyers

Little Falls pitcher Allison Gaffke dropped to 5-5 on the year after losing the opening game of the Section 8 AAA double elimination tournament, May 25.

Brainerd, the home team, and LF played six and a half scoreless innings before Warriors hitter Abby Rehberger lined a single to left, scoring Erin Holznagel on a close play at the plate. Gaffke wasn’t charged with an earned run, limiting the Warriors to three hits, striking out three and walking five. “Allison Gaffke pitched an excellent game for us today,” LF Head Coach Ron Hinnenkamp said. “She kept her focus and changed speeds to keep the Warriors off balance. Our girls played really well, but just came up short to a tough team.”

Both sides had opportunities to score but neither offense could produce with the Flyers stranding seven and Warriors eight while LF out hit Brainerd 4-3. Little Falls had at least one runner on base in four of the seven innings and Brainerd hit into an inning-ending double play with the bases juiced in the third inning.

Little Falls moved to 8-13 on the season and Brainerd improved to 13-8.

Little Falls 0 0 0 0 0 0 0— 0 R, 4 H, 3 E
Brainerd 0 0 0 0 0 0 1— 1 R, 3 H, 1 E
WP— Arns 7 inn., 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K. LP— Gaffke (5-5) 7 inn., 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 4 K.
Flyers: Klein 2-3; Theis 1-3; Otremba 1-3.
Warriors: Rehberger 1-2, BB, RBI; Bower 1-2; LeBlanc 1-3.

Pioneers out in first round
No. 2 seed Pine City beat No. 7 Pierz, 8-0, in the opening round of the South Sub-Section 18 tournament, May 20.

Pioneer pitcher Amber Kummet took the loss on the mound as she struck out five batters, but three errors led to the loss. “Amber pitched well enough to keep us in the game,” said Pierz Head Coach Mitch Becker. “We had a couple mistakes that cost us the eight runs.”

The Dragons pitcher tossed a two hitter in seven innings of work. Pierz ends the season with an 8-12 overall record, 5-8 in the CMC.

Holdingford 13 21 6 0—40
Sibley East 0 0 0 0—0

Bulldogs split with Royals
Swanville had to make up an April 20 rainout at Royalton. The Royals took advantage of four Bulldogs errors in the fifth inning to score six unearned runs to win 12-5. Swanville’s Beth Fruechte and Angie Burggenthies each collected two hits . The visitors committed six errors to Royalton’s two.

A determined Bulldog squad rebounded to win the second game 3-0.

“We played the best defensive game of the year,” said Bulldog Head Coach Tom Bzdok. “They didn’t committ any errors and made a lot of very nice fielding plays.”

Swanville pitcher Tracy DeFrance pitched all 14 innings and Bzdok commented that he felt she was throwing harder at the end of the second game than at the beginning of the first game. She walked three with two strike outs.

Lizz Dold and Courtney Neuhring each went 2-for-3 while Bruggenthies went 2-for-4.

Swanville wins opener
The fifth seeded Bulldogs mildly upset the fourth seed Meadow Creek Christian, 11-10, May 19.

The visitors scored all of their runs in the first four innings and stranded 14 base runners for the game, leaving the bases loaded in the final three innings. The M.C.C. pitchers walked a combined 16 batters.

Bulldogs Head Coach Tom Bzdok was happy with the way his team swung their bats, but added, “We allowed them to stay in the game with our sloppy defense which we will have to really improve on in the next round against the number one seed.”

Junior staff ace Tracy DeFrance went the distance, while issuing three walks and fanning one. She also led the team at the plate with a 3-for-4 day which included a double. Megan Sieben had a pair of hits.


Top seed downs Swanville
The impressive season of the Swanville Bulldogs came to an end as No. 1 seed Ogilvie handed No. 5 seed Swanville a 12-4 loss.

The Lions scored in every inning except the third as Tracy DeFrance took the complete game loss for the Bulldogs. She issued nine walks and seven hits with three strike outs.

Swanville third baseman Megan Sieben had a triple while fellow senior Angie Bruggenthies and sophomore firstbaseman Stacey Barthel each went 2-for-4. Barthel added a triple.

After going 0-16 in 2003 the girls ended ‘04 with a 6-12 year. “We improved tremendously physically, but more importantly, we improved mentally. These girls gained a lot of confidence in their ability as the season went on. Hopefully, that confidence will carry over to next season in which we should be even better.”

The coach said that he’ll definitely miss the four seniors from this team, but added that his side has a lot of freshmen talent that he feels will be able to fill in.