Milaca opens sub-section against Pine City
Posted 5/16/02

Milaca, seeded No. 2, will host seventh-seeded Pine City Friday afternoon at Sod Park in the quarter-finals of the Section 6AA, Sub-Section 18 Softball Tournament.

Milaca topped Pine City twice in Rum River Conference games during the regular season.

The Wolves won 11-0 April 16 at Milaca behind the one-hit pitching of senior right-hander Angela Vedders. Milaca stopped the Dragons 9-0 Tuesday, May 7, at Pine City as Vedders and senior right-hander Micki Dillon combined to pitch a no-hitter.

"We should be in good shape in that opening round but, as always, a team canít afford to be looking ahead," said Milaca Coach Randy Johnson.

In other quarter-final games Friday, No. 3-seeded Becker hosts No. 6-seeded Mora and No. 4-seeded Braham hosts No. 5-seeded Foley.

Top-seeded Big Lake drew a bye in the opening round.

The semifinals in the sub-section are scheduled Tuesday, May 21, at 5 p.m. at Big Lake. The winner of the Milaca-Pine City game will face the Becker-Mora winner, with Big Lake meeting the Braham-Foley winner.

The title game is scheduled Thursday, May 23, at 5 p.m. at Whitney Park in St. Cloud.

Milaca, 8-6 overall and 6-3 in RRC play, was scheduled to close out its regular-season schedule Tuesday (May 14) at home against Mora.

The Wolves went 3-0 in RRC games last week. In addition to topping Pine City on Tuesday, May 7, Milaca topped Foley twice Thursday, May 9, at Milaca by scores of 10-0 and 6-2.

On Friday, the Wolves dropped a pair of non-conference games that were part of a round-robin series. Moose Lake-Willow River tipped Milaca 1-0 at Milaca and St. Michael-Albertville shaded the Wolves 1-0 at the Pease Ball Park.

Milaca 9, Pine City 0

Dillon picked up the win, notching four strikeouts while walking none during her three-inning stint.

The Wolves built a 6-0 lead before scoring three runs in the top of the fifth inning.

Senior second baseman Sara Rhoda, senior outfielder Carla Larsen and senior third baseman Rose Keimig each had a pair of hits to lead Milacaís 12-hit offense. Larsen had a triple and senior shortstop Ashley Sikkink had a double.

Rhoda and Keiming each drove in two runs.

Milaca 10, Foley 0,

5 innings

Vedders pitched the shutout, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out seven. She was boosted by an errorless defense, with Rhodaís play at second base standing out.

The Wolves broke a 0-0 deadlock by scoring two runs in the third inning, two in the fourth and five in the fifth.

Keimig rapped a single and a double as she drove in three runs while senior catcher Kacee Biederman had a pair of singles and junior Chelsey Coffee had a double. Sikkink had a single while also drawing three walks.

Milaca 6, Foley 2

Foley scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 2-1 lead before Milaca rallied for five runs in the seventh inning.

With one out in the seventh, walks to Vedders and Rhoda and a single by Sikkink loaded the bases for Keimig, who cleared them off with a triple to left-center field. Keimig then scored on a throwing error to empty the bases.

The Wolves fifth run of the inning was produced by singles by Coffee, Larsen and Biederman.

Dillon blanked Foley over the first five innings as she picked up the win. She allowed two hits and one walk while striking out three.

Vedders pitched the final two innings, allowing four hits and no walks while fanning three.

"We showed great confidence and intensity when we came back in the seventh inning," said Johnson.

Moose Lake-WR 1,

Milaca 0

Dillon pitched the full seven innings and was tagged with the hard-luck loss. She allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out eight.

Moose Lake-Willow River, which boosted its record to 11-2, scored the gameís lone run in the top of the fourth inning.

Senior right-hander Abbey Hayden pitched the win, allowing Milaca four hits. She was aided by several fine defensive plays by her teammates.

"We hit the ball very well but they took away three potential extra-base hits with fine defensive plays," said Johnson. "Micki pitched a great game and we also played well in the field."

Biederman, Vedders, Rhoda and Larsen each had a single off Hayden.

SM-Albertville 1,

Milaca 0

Milaca had a 7-4 edge in hits but once again the Wolves cracked several line drives that were caught for outs.

"It was almost a replay of the game against Moose Lake, except we hit the ball even harder," said Johnson. "We just couldnít get one of those line drives to go through when we had runners on base."

The Knights scored the gameís lone run in the fourth inning.

Sikkink and Keimig each had two singles while Vedders, Rhoda and Coffee had one single each.

Vedders pitched the distance, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out six.

St. Michael-Albertville topped Moose Lake-Willow River 6-4 in the middle game of the round-robin series.

WOLVES NOTES: Keimig was named radio station WQPM Athlete of the Week. She was 9-for-19 last week, with two doubles and a triple, as she drove in eight runs. Keimig, who was also cited for her defensive play, is hitting .440....

Senior first baseman Katie VanHeel had a pair of unassisted double plays against SM-A as she snared line drives, then doubled-up runners off first base....