Eighth-ranked Forest Lake jumped out to a 7-1 lead en route to an 11-5 win over the host Park Wolfpack Monday, May 10, at Charlie Whitbread Field.

Forest Lake won its sixth straight game – including an 8-5 win over top-ranked Stillwater — and improved to 11-2 both overall and in the SEC.

Park slipped to 6-6 on the season and in the Suburban East Conference.

Forest Lake edged Park 3-2 in the first meeting, but this matchup was an offensive contest.

The Rangers scored two runs in the first, then added three more in the second and two more in the third to take command of the game. The Wolfpack kept battling and added four runs of their own in the fifth and sixth innings, but it was too little, too late.

“They showed a lot of fight today for being a very young team playing a very good, veteran team, a team that just beat No. 1 ranked Stillwater last week, all juniors and seniors over there,” said Park head coach Bob Loshek. “We kept the ball in the park. They have Logan Anderson, one of the best hitters in the state, followed her a few times but other than that she hit the ball hard. But nothing left the yard.

“I was very impressed the way we hit the ball today,” Loshek added. “We got down early. We had a couple bad bounces, unfortunate bounces. We get a better bounce back to Gracie Bond, we get the out at home and they might score one, the might not score any in the first inning. Unfortunately it took a bad hop towards her and by the time she gathered it was too late to come home and thy already scored and after that it was just one of those games.”

Park’s still-young team had won four straight coming into the contest but seemed outmatched by the senior- and junior-dominated Rangers.

Senior Corinna Loshek had a single and double and batted in a run to lead Park’s hitters. Skyler Crocker had two singles and a RBI. Autumn Degler had two singles. Edie Walton, Bryleigh Dana and Briana Lee also had run-scoring hits.

Park hosts Mounds View (4-9, 4-10) Wednesday, May 12,then plays at league-leading and top-ranked Stillwater (12-1, 14-1) Friday, May 14, both games starting at 4:30 p.m.

Three SEC teams are ranked in the Class 4A top 10 this week: No. 1 Stillwater, No. 5 White Bear Lake and No 8 Forest Lake.

Park pitcher Skyler Crocker throws hard in the late innings against Forest Lake.Photo by John Molene