Knights win twice

By DAVE CLARK, Journal Sports Writer
By DAVE CLARK

Journal Sports Writer



SLEEPY EYE — It was a good day to be a Knight.

The Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights cruised in the first two games of the Section 2A softball playoffs Tuesday afternoon, ending the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers season with a 11-1, five-inning victory, then beating the Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Thunderbirds 9-1 for GFW’s first loss of the double elimination tournament.

Earlier, the Thunderbirds had finished the year for the Cedar Mountain/Comfrey Rockets with a 6-5 win. This means the next round of the playoffs features St. Mary’s squaring off against New Ulm Cathedral on Field 1 and GFW facing McLeod West on Field 3 at Caswell Park in North Mankato on Saturday morning, with both games starting at 11.

But it was the Knights with the impressive wins at home, with pitcher Maria Gangelhoff giving a masterful performance, throwing 11 innings between the two games, allowing just four hits, one run and no walks.

“My goal was to hit the spots against the good hitters and let the defense do the work,” Gangelhoff said. “I just tried to stay focused. The whole team felt confident and the offense from the first game carried over into the second game, and that takes a lot of pressure off me, because the playoffs are do or die.”

That sentiment was echoed by Knights coach Wendy Owens, who had seen her team lose earlier in the year to both MVL and GFW.

“The girls hit very well, had a lot of confidence, and we didn’t take either team for granted because we lost to both. We didn’t want to lay down. We needed to stay focused, and they did.”

GFW actually opened the scoring in the second game, as leadoff hitter Kristi Kalk reached on an error and came home later on a Johanna Forst single. After that, it was all St. Mary’s.

Lori Moldan started the Knights off in the bottom of the first with the first of two doubles to left. After Rebecca Sellner’s soft single to right, Gangelhoff reached on an error, with Heather Schumacher clearing the bases with a line drive double to left center.

St. Mary’s continued its assault in the second, when Natalie Hertling started off with a single, then scoring on Moldan’s second double. A triple over the right fielder’s head by Sellner and a Gangelhoff single to center made it 6-1.

Consecutive singles later by Schumacher and Angela Armbruster opened the Knights lead to 7-1 after two innings.

With one out in the third, Hertling nailed a single to center, with Moldan reaching on an error. Both advanced on a wild pitch, with Hertling scoring on Sellner’s fly to center and Moldan making it 9-1 on a Gangelhoff single.

In GFW’s first game, the Thunderbirds opened a 2-0 lead in the second behind a RBI single from Abby Osborne and a Rockets error.

The Thunderbirds expanded their lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth with a two RBI double by Forst. After CM/C cut the lead to 4-2 in the fifth, GFW added two more in the bottom of the sixth.

The Rockets made a game of it in the seventh, loading the bases and scoring on a walk and singles by Jaime Hanson and Jody Hanson. But GFW starting pitcher Rachel Schweiss notched a strikeout with CM/C runners stranded at first and second, setting up the game against St. Mary’s.

The Knights took a 3-0 lead against MVL in the second inning of the first game behind a double by Moldan. St. Mary’s then scored six in the bottom of the third, with three of the runs coming from bases-loaded walks and the others on RBI singles from Gangelhoff and Sellner, plus a double by Mandy Speckman.

The Chargers scored their lone run in the sixth when Mashaye Wilson hit a double and came home on an error, but St. Mary’s ended the game in the bottom of the sixth when a Sellner single scored Moldan.