Lakeville North Uses Big First Inning to Beat Owatonna

Lakeville North scored seven runs in the first inning on one hit and defeated Owatonna 9-4 in the quarterfinal round of the Section 1AAAA girls' fast pitch softball tournament Tuesday. No. 4 seed North used five walks, two hit batters and a hit from their No. 9 hitter Carah Cash to jump out to a big lead and beat the fifth-seeded Huskies.

Both teams advance to Todd Park in Austin Thursday in the double-elimination tournament. Owatonna (6-13) will play Lakeville South at 4 pm on KRFO AM 1390 in a losers' bracket game. The winner will play again at 6 pm. Lakeville North will take on top-seed New Prague.

After getting behind early, OHS put two on the board in the second inning on three hits. Kenzie Karsten and Torey Buck singled. Alexa Sommers had a base hit for an RBI. Hannah Fisher pushed in a run with a ground out. The Huskies left runners in scoring position in four straight innings.

Lakeville North added a run in the second and a solo home run in the fifth from Jenna Beckstrom to account for their runs. Kaitlyn Young pitched the complete fame for the Panthers. OHS out hit North 9-7.

Owatonna scored their other runs in the sixth. Karsten reached on an error. Anna LaDuke singled. Fisher hit a two-out, two-RBI single to create the 9-4 final. LaDuke and Kaitlyn Madole made nice defensive plays in the infield. Jamie Davison was busy in center field, making several plays.

Download the KRFO app to listen to Huskies softball and baseball playoffs this week.

OWATONNA BOYS TENNIS

Owatonna's boys' tennis team lost to Big Nine champion Rochester Century 6-1 in the Section 1AA semifinals Tuesday. It was the Huskies first appearance in the final four in a few years. Century went on to beat Rochester Mayo 4-3 to win the title and advance to state. Section individual tennis begins on Thursday, May 24.