Wolves gain No. 1 seed
for sub-section tourney
Posted 5/15/03

Milaca gained the No. 1 seed in the Sub-Section 18, Section 6AA Softball Tournament and will receive a bye in the opening round of the seven-team tournament.

³Our win over Big Lake earlier this season was a big factor in us getting the top seed,² said Milaca Coach Randy Johnson, whose team stopped Big Lake 4-3 April 28, at Milaca. ³And, we¹ve played well and have a good record.²

The sub-section meet begins Friday with fourth-seeded Mora hosting No. 5-Pine City, third-seeded Braham hosting sixth-seeded Foley and second-seeded Big Lake hosting seventh-seeded Becker. Those games are at 5 p.m.

The semifinal games in the meet are scheduled Tuesday,

May 20, at 5 p.m. at Foley. Milaca will face the winner of the Pine City-Mora game.

The sub-section title game is Thursday, May 22, at 5 p.m., at Whitney Park in St. Cloud.

The top two teams in Sub-Section 18 will advance to the Section 6AA Tournament, along with the top two teams from Sub-Section 19.

The semifinals in the 6AA meet are Tuesday, May 29, at Whitney Park. The Sub-Section 18 and Sub-Section 19 champions will meet in one semifinal game, with the second-place teams facing each other in the other semifinal game. The 6AA Tournament is double elimination; however the second-place teams from the two sub-sections will each enter play with one loss.

Last year, Big Lake gained a berth to the Class AA State Tournament by tipping Milaca 3-0 in the 6AA championship game.

³We like our chances to advance to the section tournament,² said Johnson. ³And, we feel if we play as well as we can, we can make a good showing in the section tournament.²

Milaca trimmed Pine City 12-3 in a Rum River Conference game Tuesday, May 6, at Milaca. The Wolves then toppled North Branch 11-1 in a RRC game Thursday, May 8 before losing at North Branch 4-3 Monday.

The Wolves are 9-5 overall and 3-6 in RRC play.

Milaca 12, Pine City 3

Milaca took an early 7-0 lead as it scored four runs in the first inning and three more in the second inning.

Seniors Micki Dillon, Chelsey Coffee and Whitney Bekius each cracked three singles, with Coffee scoring three runs. Junior Sadie Hemmerich added two doubles and junior Jenny Jurek added a double to Milaca¹s 15-hit offense.

Junior right-hander Sara Fogel pitched five innings to claim the win. She allowed four hits and one walk while striking out two. Dillon, also a right-hander, pitched two innings, allowing no walks or hits while striking out three.

³We had great pitching, great hitting and played well defensively,² said Johnson.

Milaca 11, North Branch 1

The Wolves held a 2-0 lead before breaking the game open with three runs in the third inning and six more in the fourth. The game ended in the middle of the fifth inning because of the 10-run rule.

Eight players contributed to Milaca¹s 10-hit attack. Dillon had a double and a single, Hemmerich had a double and senior Kelly Northway had a pair of singles.

Northway, Milaca¹s catcher, also threw out a North Branch runner who was attempting to steal second base.

Dillon pitched the full five innings, allowing five hits and three walks while strking out three.

North Branch 4, Milaca 3

The Vikings evened their season series with the Wolves by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Milaca had tied the score at 3-3 by notching two runs in the sixth inning.

Coffee, senior Denae Gahm and senior Tonya Arndt each had a pair of singles.

Fogel pitched the full seven innings, allowing four hits and four walks while striking out six.

³Overall, we played well,² said Johnson. ³We stranded eight runners on base and that was the difference.²