After a tough opening loss at Forest Lake Wednesday, Park was rolling along with a fairly comfortable 2-0 lead over East Ridge heading into the seventh inning.
Then things got a little crazy. Park eventually prevailed, winning 2-1, but it was an adventure in the seventh.
Park freshman pitcher Stella Fritsche had been sailing along, striking out 10 of the first 19 batters she faced. Fritsche had allowed just one hit and had set the East Ridge side down in order in five of the first six innings.
But in the seventh, the Raptors came to life. A leadoff walk, followed by a single and then a run-scoring double made it a 2-1 game. Another East Ridge runner reached on a Park error and a fielder’s choice out at the plate left Park facing a bases loaded situation with just one out.
Fritsche regained her groove, however, striking out the next two batters to finish off the clutch win. She ended with 12 strikeouts and gave up just three hits and two walks.
“First girl got on and it’s always tough in the seventh inning but we kept fighting and we came back, and got our W,” said Fritsche.
Park scored both of its runs in the second inning, combining a hit by pitch, a sacrifice bunt and then a single by Addie Corkish and Peyton Moerke followed by a double by sophomore catcher Alayna Adamez.
“It was a great game,” said Adamez. “It’s a great feeling to be honest. It was a great bounce back win. I think it was really hard for us, but we came back and we really thought that we could beat them and we just came back and really became positive about it.”
Asked if the game got exciting in the seventh, Park head coach Bob Loshek agreed.
“A little too exciting,” said Loshek. “Those are fun. Things didn’t go our way at Forest Lake earlier in the week and again, first game outside, windy, blowing out, all that stuff. But no excuses right, they had the same wind we did. This was a good bounce-back win. We talked about that. We talked about you can either be the raw egg and get splattered against the wall or be the super ball and bounce back after a game like that.
“And we responded,” Loshek added. “I thought we had some really good at bats, I thought we left enough people on base to make it a little bit more comfortable but 2-to-1 and the last team that we lost to in sections was East Ridge. We knew going into the season that when you play SEC teams it’s just tough up and down the lineup. The whole conference is so darn tough. What a game. We didn’t expect anything less. We knew they weren’t going to back away.”
Forest Lake 12, Park 2
Host Forest Lake jumped on Park early and hard at Forest Lake Wednesday, jumping out to ab 8-0 lead after two innings en route to a 12-2 win.
The Rangers outhit the Wolfpack 13-3 in the game. Park’s Addie Corkish, Alayna Adamez and Lauren Osland had hits for the Wolfpack. Osland had a double and drove in a run.
It was a tough outing for Park pitcher Ava Youngquist who gave up 13 hits including five home runs, 12 runs, 11 earned runs, walked six and struck out one.
