Brooke Gillespie hits 4 home runs in doubleheader

The MACA softball team has blazed through its early-season games. Two games were on the slate for Thursday, April 14. This is despite the fact the school calendar had no games on the slate that day. The calendar also had no game set for Friday. But the Tigers played three games over those two days!

I know, I know, spring is a time for postponed and rescheduled games. Still, it seemed awfully early in the schedule for the official schedule to be tossed aside. But tossed aside it should be. Just ask your friends when the next game is. Such is the nature of spring sports. I personally will check on a day-by-day basis from now on. Check at the barber shop.

Everything has been coming up roses for Tiger softball at the outset of 2016 play. The Tuesday rain should push up all vegetation too. Get your mower equipment ready.

Thursday, April 14, was a day for a doubleheader sweep by coach Mary Holmberg's Tigers. The orange and black took care of business vs. the Streeters of Sauk Centre. Our offense was explosive. We plated eleven runs in game 1 and 16 runs in game 2. Wow!

 

Tigers 11, Sauk Centre 8

The sixth inning really made the difference. MACA pushed across five runs in the sixth to dispose of the Streeters. We scored eleven total runs on 15 hits and overcame sloppy fielding, as our error total was seven. Sauk Centre committed just one error.

Brooke Gillespie and Ashley Solvie split the pitching duties with Solvie getting the win. Gillespie worked her pitching arm for 5 1/3 innings and struck out six batters. She gave up three hits and walked one. Three of the five runs she gave up were unearned. Yes, those fielding lapses were a factor. Ashley Solvie picked up the win with her stint of 1 1/3 innings. Ashley gave up three hits, struck out one and walked two.

Gillespie with her bat helped overcome her team's seven errors. She drove in four runs. Gillespie's bat made noise with two home runs. Ashley Solvie's bat also powered a homer, one of two hits this Tiger produced. Nicole Solvie was a perfect three-for-three. Lindsey Dierks had three hits in four at-bats. Becca Holland and Lexi Mahoney each had a hit. Add up the hits among these Tigers and you get 12. The line score as reported by the Willmar paper had MACA with 15 hits. Way to go, Willmar paper.

Mikayla Olson made noise with her bat for Sauk Centre, as she homered as part of going two-for-five. Samantha Wessel hit a homer too. Other Streeters with hits were Amanda Lahr, Emily Mensen and Jill Klaphake.

Lahr was the losing pitcher, working all seven innings and striking out four batters. The Tigers honed in on her pitches pretty well.

The Tigers led 3-0 after one inning. Finally in the sixth we broke through with the rally we needed. On to game 2.

 

Tigers 16, Sauk Centre 6

This is the kind of game where the scorebook with all its penciled-in symbols can look pretty complicated. All those filled-in diamonds. There were eight of those filled-in diamonds for MACA in the first inning in this second game of the doubleheader. We led 8-0 after one inning and could cruise.

We scored our 16 runs on 12 hits and committed four errors. Sauk Centre's line score was 6-7-2. A big highlight for the MACA offense was Nicole Solvie's first inning grand slam home run.

Remember, Gillespie showed that power bat in game 1, and it was ditto in game 2 for this multi-talented Tiger. Again Gillespie powered two home runs. She had a three-for-four boxscore line and drove in four runs. Ashley Solvie had three hits in four at-bats. Madison Wevley went two-for-five. Becca Holland and Lindsey Dierks each added a hit to the mix. Add up these hits and you get eleven, but the line score in the Willmar paper had 12. At least they're close.

Amanda Lahr went two-for-four for the Streeters. Morgan Gamradt had a hit for the loser too.

Ashley Solvie pitched the whole way for the orange and black. Three of the six runs she allowed were unearned. She struck out one batter, walked one and allowed seven hits.

The losing pitcher was Kallie Kampsen. Lahr also pitched.

 

Tigers 11, Redwood Valley 0

MACA got its fourth win with a rout over Redwood Valley. Brooke Gillespie was at centerstage in this April 15 action. Gillespie stood out with the bat and on the pitching rubber in this 11-0 win. Offensively she spun a three-for-four line with two of her hits doubles. She elevated her batting average to .688 on the season, on eleven hits in 16 at-bats.

Gillespie pitched the whole way which turned out to be six innings. She allowed just one hit and walked none. She set down four Redwood Valley batters on strikes. The losing pitcher was Nicole Bunting. Three of the eleven runs that Bunting allowed were unearned.

Becca Holland fueled the Morris Area Chokio Alberta offense with a two-run home run. It was an inside-the-park job in the second inning, an inning that saw MACA push four runs across. We also scored four runs in the sixth. We scored single runs in the first, third and fourth.

Lindsey Dierks and Ashley Solvie both went one-for-three, and Callie Hottovy added a hit to the mix.

Redwood Valley's lone hit was off the bat of Samantha Lydick. It was a single in the third. MACA had a nifty zero in the errors column. We scored our eleven runs on seven hits. Redwood Valley committed four errors.

Morris Area Chokio Alberta entered the weekend with a 4-0 record.

- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com