By Scott A. Kolb
skolb@postbulletin.com
ROSEMOUNT — Pitching was the difference for the Riverland softball
team with a sweep of three games on Friday at the Minnesota Classic
Tournament in the Irish Dome.
Kaylee Newman picked up a pair of wins for the Lady Blue Devils on
the hill. Anna Breault got the other pitching win in relief for
Riverland.
In the opener on Friday morning, the Riverland women got things
rolling with a 12-2 rout of Hibbing. The Lady Devils then had a pair
of close wins at 12-11 over St. Cloud Technical and 5-4 over Central
Lakes.
“We’re sure beat up after playing three back-to-back games on
artificial turf, but the pitchers did a great job,” Riverland coach
Dave Lillemon said.
“We got it going early with a lot of runs for Kaylee in the first
game of the day. We then played solid defense and recorded a couple
of exciting wins in the last two games.”
Chelsey Swanson led the Riverland offense with three hits and three
runs scored in the lopsided opening win.
Jill Radke also had three hits in Riverland’s offensive barrage. The
Lady Devils scored five runs in the top of the first inning.
The second game required some relief help for the Riverland pitching
staff. Liz Triplett started the game against St. Cloud Technical, but
only lasted one inning.
Newman then came on in relief, but only made it through one-third of
an inning. St. Cloud had a nine-run rally in the top of the second
inning.
Breault, who was injured last Monday at the dome, came back and
rescued the Lady Devils. Breault finally ended the mess in the top of
the second, and then went the rest of the way for the relief win.
It was tied 11-11 in the bottom of the sixth, when the Lady Devils
rallied for the winning run. Andrea Exline started the winning rally
by drawing a leadoff walk.
Mandy May followed with a sacrifice bunt to move the runner along.
Exline made it safely to second, then took third on the play when
nobody covered the base. Laura Meyer next hit a ground ball for the
winning RBI.
“Anna did a super job in relief and we were able to complete the
comeback,” coach Lillemon said of the second win.
The final contest was a seeding game, and Riverland drew the
defending state champs from Central Lakes out of Brainerd. This was
another close battle the whole way.
After taking an early 5-2 lead, the Lady Devils had to withstand a
late rally from the home team on the scoreboard. Central Lakes got a
run in the bottom of the fifth and another in the seventh inning, but
it wasn’t enough. The potential trying run was left stranded at
second base.
Riverland (6-3) is scheduled to open the outdoor season on Monday at
home against Iowa Lakes Community College.
RIVERLAND 12, HIBBING 2, 5 inn.
Riverland 543 00 — 12 13 1
Hibbing 200 00 — 2 4 0
Riverland: Chelsey Swanson 3-4, 3 runs, 4 RBI; Liz Triplett 1-2,
walk, 3 RBI; Jill Radke 3-4, 2 runs, RBI; Laura Meyer 2-3, 2B, 2
runs. WP: Kaylee Newman 5 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K.
RIVERLAND 12, ST. CLOUD 11
St. Cloud Tech 090 010 0 — 11 9 0
Riverland 503 031 x — 12 11 1
Riverland: Danielle Lynch 3-4, 2 runs, RBI; Meyer 2-5, 2 runs, 3 RBI;
Radke run, 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI; Swanson 2-4, run; Andrea Exline 1-1, 2
walks, HBP, 2 runs. WP: Anna Breault 5 1/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB,
6 K.
RIVERLAND 5, CENTRAL LAKES 4
Riverland 202 100 0 — 5 10 1
Central Lakes 002 010 1 — 4 11 1
Riverland: May 2-4, run; Meyer 2-3, 2 runs, RBI; Radke 2-4, run, RBI;
Lynch 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI. WP: Newman 7 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 11 H, 3 BB, 3 K.