Medford Fastpitch Wins Slugfest Against Bethlehem Academy
The Meford Tigers traveled to Faribault today and went home with a 10-8 win in the Gopher Conference. Both teams are young. The Tigers with 3 seniors, the Cardinals 2 seniors.
Bethlehem Academy 8th grader Morgan Wilson started in the pitching circle by throwing 9 pitches in the first half inning which took 3 minutes.
The bottom of the first may have been a omen of things to come for the Cardinals. The first two batters reached on errors putting runners at first and second with no outs. Medford pitcher, freshman Kenzie Velishek struck out the heart of the lineup looking and swinging and in between lead BA hitter Anna Tobin was thrown out trying to steal third base.
Wilson allowed just one hit through the first three innings while striking out 6 batters.
Bethlehem Academy scored in the second inning. Following an out #6 hitter 8th grader Anna Cohen hit an 0-2 count pitch. Sophmore Lindsay Hanson was hit by a pitch with the count 0-2. Sophmore Josie Rose flew out to right field with Cohen advancing to third on the out.
Hanson stole second base. #9 hitter Anna Demars was walked before Tobin stroked a single scoring Cohen. The inning ended with the one run scoring and the Cardinals were ahead 1-0 leaving 4 runners on base after two innings. 3 in scoring position.
Wilson opened the top of the 4th with her 7th strikeout. #3 Medford hitter shortstop sophmore Lydia Krenske had a single to right center field. Senior catcher Lily Roehrick jumped on the first pitch for a single. Velishek hit a ball resulting in an error scoring a run. Sophmore Josie Witter had an RBI single.
At that point Wilson was taken out with sophmore Kate Trump entering the pitching circle. Wilson left after striking out 7 of 15 batters faced with 4 hits allowed and no walks. She threw exactly 50 pitches, 36 strikes.
Trump was greeted with a run scoring ground out off the bat of sophmore first baseman Josie Shell. A seeing eye single to center by junior Julia Niles before ending the inning with a strikeout. The Tigers had taken a 4-1 lead.
In the bottom of the 4th inning Cohen started with a first pitch connection for a single. During a strikeout at bat Cohen stole second base. Rose hit a single and alertly went to second base when the relay missed the cutoff person which I ruled an error. Another strikeout was recorded for the second out. Tobin hit a grounder that looked to be the third out of the inning but there was an error allowing Cohen to score.
Senior Malia Hunt smacked an RBI single to center field to score Donahue running for Rose. Trump stepped to the plate jumping on an elevated fast ball for a three run home run to give the Cardinals a 6-4 lead.
In the top of the 5th inning Medford would send ten batters to the plate scoring 5 more runs to make it 9-6 Tigers.
Leadoff hitter sophmore Grace Keller was walked to start the inning. Following a strikeout Krenske was hit by a pitch. Roehrick hit into a fielder's choice. Valishek smacked a 2 RBI single. Witter was walked to reload the bases. Shell and Niles hit back to back singles plating two more runs before a strikeout and line out ended the Tigers onslaught.
In the bottom of the 5th, seven Cardinals came to the plate. With one out Cohen singled and stole second base during a Hanson at bat that ended in a strikeout. Rose was safe on an error. Demars was walked to load the bases. Tobin hit a 2 RBI single which would make the score 9-8 in favor of Medford.
Wilson went back in to pitch in the top of the sixth inning. Senior Emily Chadwick who previously struck out twice against her hammered the first pitch for a double. Following a flyout Roehrick singled with the count 0-2. Velishek jumped on the first pitch she saw resulting in an error and a 10-8 lead.
Velishek shut the door on the Cardinals allowing one hit over the final two innings to allow Medford to record it's 6th win of the season. Bethlehem Academy has 8 wins.
Velishek threw 109 pitches with 76 strikes over 7 innings. She allowed 9 hits, struck out 6 batters, allowed 2 walks, hit 2 batters. She received one of our Cashwise Foods and Pharmacy of Owatonna deliveries of the game along with Niles and Roehrick for their hitting contributions.
The Malecha's Auto Body of Faribault Crunch Time Faribault Players of the Game were Tobin, Cohen and Trump. Tobin was on base all four times up with 3 RBI and a run scored. Cohen had 3 singles, 2 runs scored, 2 stolen bases and Trump clubbed the 3 run home run to give the Cardinals their second lead of the game.
Both teams play Thursday but the games won't mean anything in terms of Section seeds because those come out on Wednesday.
BA Head Coach Maren Viland speculated her team would still be the #4 seed and get a home game on Memorial Day. The Cardinals are 8-9 and host Maple River Thursday.
Medford is 6-12. They play a doubleheader at Blooming Prairie Thursday.
Medford is in Section 2AA and will be on the road.
These are so doggone cute.
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