By Victoria Dahlin
Last week the Rush City softball team began its season by traveling and downing East Central 23-6, before giving up a 9-4 home loss to no. 8 state ranked Isle.
Mackenzie Sherrill pitched 2 2/3 innings, striking out five and giving up five runs in the game against East Central last Thursday.
Taylor Youngblom pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, striking out two and giving up one run before the game ended in the fifth inning due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Having multiple hits for the game were Miranda Anderson, Abby Scherer, and Chesney Grant.
Tallying one hit versus the Eagles were Taniel Schellbach, Danica Schellbach, Lindsey Williams, Sydnie Sybrant, Hannah Pavek, Randi Schoeberl and Youngblom. Taniel Shellenbach’s hit was a homerun over the right fielder’s head, her first homerun of her career.
“Our girls played well today,” said Coach Kim Erdman. “We had two starters on a school trip and one that was sick, so we had some young girls playing varsity ball for the first time, and they rose to the challenge and the team didn’t miss a beat. The thing that impressed me about my pitchers is they each walked only one batter, which is fantastic this early in the season. With so many weeks with multiple games, it is nice to have two pitchers that can come in and do the job. Offensively, we had 10 different girls cross the plate.”
Last Friday Isle came to Rush City and it was a 5-3 game in favor of the Huskies after six innings.
Sherrill pitched the entire game, striking out five and walking two.
Scherer led the team in hitting with two hits. Also notching hits were Trista Sarago, Liz Bolejack, Danica Schellbach, and Anderson.
“We played very well in five of the seven innings,” said Coach Erdman. “But we had a few too many miscues in the second and seventh innings. Isle is a good team, and you can’t give good teams too many extra outs.
Erdman went on to laud his team’s effort.
“Our outfield played very well, as Miranda Anderson, Liz Bolejack and Chesney Grant all made some nice catches. Once again, Mackenzie Sherrill pitched well. She did a good job of keeping the ball down today, which gave us lots of ground balls to field. They know we made a few too many mistakes and I am convinced they will work hard to fix them. This is a smart team that will adjust quickly.”
The Rush City softball team has a 1-1 Great River Conference and overall record. The team will travel to Braham to face the Bombers at 4:30 p.m. April 19 before traveling to Frederic, Wis. to face the Vikings at 5 p.m. April 20. The Tigers will then travel to Grantsburg, Wis. to face the Pirates at 5 p.m. April 23, and then host the Hinckley-Finlayson Jaguars at 4:30 p.m. April 24.