Park 9, Cretin-Derham Hall 4

Park broke a two-game losing streak with a 9-4 win over visiting Cretin-Derham Hall Tuesday.

Park 3, Roseville 2

Park had to work way too hard, but finally put down the visiting Roseville Raiders, winning 3-2 in eight innings at Charlie Whitbred Field Wednesday.

The Wolfpack scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to escape a surprisingly potent Roseville squad. Starting pitcher Gracie Bond tied the game at 2-all with a one-out double, then Briana Lee won it with a run-scoring single.

Roseville came into the contest with just a single win on the season, a 5-4 victory over Irondale on Monday, May 16. But the Raiders gave the Wolfpack all they could handle for eight innings.

“I don’t think we look past opponents,” said Park head coach Bob Loshek. “We never have in the past. Just, sometimes, you’re like we’ve got East Ridge tomorrow and then sections so let’s just walk through this. And obviously you could see we couldn’t walk through it. They (the Raiders) came to play and they made plays.

“We didn’t hit anything hard because we pulled off the ball and they made plays,” Loshek added. “And so that’s what keeps the game close. And Gracie pitched wonderful. Senior day, she pitched extremely well. She deserved to win in seven, but we just have to score runs and we had plenty of people in scoring position. Unfortunately, everything was with two outs.”

It would have been a very tough loss for the Wolfpack to swallow. Park defeated Roseville 10-0 earlier in the season at Roseville.

Park got on the scoreboard quickly with a run in the first inning. Emma Ambroz walked to lead off, followed by a single by Noelle Krumrie, a fly out, a fielder’s choice and then a single by Gracie Bond. But that was it for the Wolfpack until their last-inning heroics.

Bond didn’t have her best stuff on the mound, but still struck out 11 batters while allowing five hits and seven walks.

Park outhit the visitors 10-5, including a triple by Krumrie and Bond’s double.

East Ridge 5, Park 1 East Ridge got revenge from an earlier loss to Park in a 5-1 regular season ending game at East Ridge Thursday afternoon.

The loss also dropped the Wolfpack behind the East Ridge Raptors in the final Suburban East Conference standings.

No. 4 White Bear Lake won the conference with a 16-2 record, followed by No. 6 Forest Lake and No. 2 Stillwater, which tied for second with 15-3 records. East Ridge was fourth at 11-6 and Park fifth at 10-8.

Park lost 0-2 series to White Bear Lake, Stillwater and Forest Lake while splitting with East Ridge.

The SEC had four teams ranked in the Class 4A final top 10, as ranked by the Minnesota High School Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association.

Park infielder Skyler Crocker fields the ball and throws to first for an out against Roseville Wednesday. Photo by John Molene

Park junior outfielder Noelle Krumrie lays down a bunt in the game against Roseville.Photo by John Molene