By Scott A. Kolb

Post-Bulletin, Austin MN 

ROSEMOUNT -- Playing on the indoor carpet of a domed field is nice when the conditions outside are soggy, but the hard surface has already taken a toll on the Riverland softball team.

Anna Breault and Danielle Lynch, who both were key figures for the Lady Blue Devils of Riverland in their three wins on Monday, didn't play in Wednesday's triple-header at the Irish Dome. Left a little short-handed, the Lady Devils lost all three games at the Minnesota Classic Tournament.

"We're a little banged up, but I'm real pleased with our team playing three more competitive games," Riverland coach Dave Lillemon said. "Breault pitched a no-hitter for us on Monday and she had a sprained ankle. We missed Lynch's bat, but overall we played pretty well on the day."

The diamond action started early in the morning for the Lady Devils with a game against Rainy River, a team from the North Division of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference. Riverland took an early lead, but four late runs paced Rainy River to a 5-2 win.

Kaylee Newman pitched all six innings and took the loss for the Lady Devils in the opener. Despite the setback, Newman pitched well with nine strikeouts and only two earned runs allowed.

A trio of errors by the Riverland defense would open the door to the four-run rally for Rainy River in the bottom of the fourth inning. The home team on the scoreboard then added another run in the fifth inning.

"We swung the bats pretty good, but just had that one bad inning," Lillemon said. "We gave up two hits, a walk, a hit batter and they all scored in the bottom of the fourth. Kaylee pitched really well, but we couldn't bunch our hits together to get enough runs."

Chelsey Swanson was the only Riverland batter with two hits in the loss and she also drove in a run. Laura Meyer added a hit and the other RBI for Riverland in the day's opener.

The junior varsity from St. Thomas then shutout Riverland by an 8-0 margin in the second game of the tournament. The eight-run rule was invoked after five innings.

Liz Triplett made her first pitching start of the season and took the loss for the Lady Devils. Meyer had two of the seven hits for the Lady Devils.

"St. Thomas is one of the finest teams that I'll ever see on the softball field," Lillemon said. "They have one of the top college programs in the country and we went up against their young recruits. They were awesome. We still got a solid effort from Liz, who didn't pitch in high school, and was making her first start."

Three unearned runs in the first inning was the difference in a 3-0 loss for Riverland against Itasca Community College in the third game of the day. A trio of errors paved the way for Itasca to take the early lead. The batters only mustered two hits in the shutout loss.

"It was a tough first inning," the coach concluded. "Kaylee pitched real well again and all of their runs were unearned. The lack of offense in the last two games were quite a contrast from the opening day when we scored all those runs."

Riverland (3-3) plays three more games on Friday at the Irish Dome. The first game will be against Rainy River at 8:30 a.m., then it's a game with St. Cloud Technical College at 10 a.m. The late game will be at 1 p.m. against a seeded opponent in the final round of the Minnesota Classic.

RAINY RIVER 5, RIVERLAND 2

Riverland 020 000 0 -- 2 8 3

Rainy River 000 410 x -- 5 5 0

Riverland: Chelsey Swanson 2-4, run, RBI; Laura Meyer 1-4, RBI. LP: Kaylee Newman, 6 IP, 5 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 9 K.

ST. THOMAS JV 8, RIVERLAND 0

St. Thomas 012 23 -- 8 8 0

Riverland 000 00 -- 0 7 0

Riverland: Laura Meyer 2-4. LP: Liz Triplett, 5 IP, 8 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 1 HB, 1 K.

ITASCA 3, RIVERLAND 0

Itasca 300 000 0 -- 3 4 0

Riverland 000 000 0 -- 0 2 3

Riverland: LP: Kaylee Newman, 7 IP, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K.