MW SOFTBALL: MW sweeps Fergus Falls in doubleheader 11-3, 13-5

WORTHINGTON — The Lady Jays had been waiting all season for games like this.

They had played games where their defense was top-notch and they had played games where their bats were hot, but the Minnesota West softball team hadn’t been able to put together an all-around good game.

Until Friday, that is.

The Lady Jays improved their record to 7-10 after completing a two-game sweep of Minnesota State-Fergus Falls Friday, winning the first game 11-3 in six innings and winning the second game 13-5 in six innings.

“I have no complaints today,” MW coach Rosalie Hayenga-Hostikka said. “We finally had an all-out performance. We were able to put full games together and we’ve been waiting all season for that to happen for us.”

The Lady Jays got things going right away in the first game.

After a two-run first inning where Erin Ebbers and Cheyenne Platz each had an RBI, Minnesota West put up a three-run second inning.

The bottom of the second started with a one-out bomb from Ashley Sell that was good enough for a triple. Sell scored on a single by Alayna Hall – who got the second out of the inning when she attempted to run to second on the throw in from the outfield.

But Ebbers responded with an infield single, later scoring on Katherine Kazemba’s double to left-center field. Kazemba would eventually score on Platz’s single to left to make to score 5-0.

After a scoreless third inning, Minnesota West came back in the fourth with three more runs.

Kazemba scored on a throwing error when Jess Hermeling was up to bat and then Steph Behrends and Hermeling scored on Alyson Drooger’s double to center field, making the score 8-0 heading into the fifth inning.

However, the Spartans managed to put together a three-run fifth inning to keep the game going.

The Lady Jays added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth—on RBIs by Ebbers and Kazemba—to make the score 10-3.

After holding Fergus Falls scoreless in the top of the sixth, the Lady Jays added one run when Randa Knutson scored on a Hall single, ending the game on the eight-run rule with the score 11-3.

Minnesota West ended the game with 19 hits.

“The hitting was the fun part,” Hayenga-Hostikka said. “We had hits up and down the lineup. I think everyone had a hit in that game. It was fantastic.”

In the first game Ebbers tossed a complete game, finishing with four strikeouts, five walks, a hit batter and gave up five hits.

The Lady Jays’ offense was highlighted by Hall (4-for-5 with two runs, a triple and two RBIs), Behrends (3-for-4 with a run scored and a double), Drooger (3-for-4 with two RBIs and a double) and Ebbers (2-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs).

Things didn’t slow down at all for Minnesota West in the second game.

Ebbers tossed all six innings again, striking out two, walking seven and giving up five hits.

“Erin did really well,” Hayenga-Hostikka said. “She was on top of her stuff and didn’t give up too many walks. We’ve been talking about her keeping her walks down all season and I think she had good control today.”

The Spartans scored a run in the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead in the second game. However, that lead didn’t last long.

The Lady Jays responded with a six-run bottom of the first. Kazemba and Platz scored on a single by Hermeling. The four other runs – scored by Behrends, Hermeling, Knutson and Drooger – were scored on wild pitches from Fergus Falls’ pitcher Aann Bjorklund to quickly make the score 6-1.

Minnesota West’s next big inning was the third. The Spartans had made the score 6-3 by that point, but the Lady Jays put up a three-run inning on RBIs from Hall and Kazemba to make the score 9-3.

Fergus Falls added two runs in the fifth inning to keep the game alive, making the score 9-5.

But the Lady Jays added three more runs in the sixth inning—on RBIs from Rachel Malmgren, Hall and Ebbers—to once again end the game early with a score of 13-5.

“I think it was just matter of time before we put together games like these,” Hayenga-Hostikka said. “I think we had just been trying too hard. All we needed to do was go out there and relax and play the game and I think that’s finally what we did today.”

The second game was highlighted offensively by Hall (3-for-4 with a walk, two runs and three RBIs), Hermeling (1-for-4 with a run and two RBIs), Drooger (3-for-3 with a walk and four runs) and Malmgren (3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI).

Minnesota West’s next game is today against St. Cloud Tech in a doubleheader starting at noon in Worthington.

“We have all the momentum in the world right now,” Hayenga-Hostikka said. “We can play with them, that’s for sure. We just have to continue what we did today. If we play like we did today we can easily get two wins.”

Game 1 R H E

FF 000 030 — 3 5 3

MW 230 321 — 11 19 0

Game 2 R H E

FF 120 020 — 5 5 0

MW 603 103 — 13 15 1

Daily Globe Sports Reporter Jocelyn Syrstad can be reached at 376-7335.

Tags: minnesota west sports, sports, softball