Dragons stun Wolves in sub-section
Posted 5/29/03

Crushing.

Thatıs how Milaca Softball Coach Randy Johnson described his teamıs loss to Pine City Tuesday, May 20, at Foley in the semifinals of the Sub-Section 18 Tournament.

Pine City, seeded No. 5 in the sub-section, upended top-seeded Milaca 11-1. The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.

Milaca, which stopped Pine City twice (8-5 and 12-3) during the regular season, had earned a bye into the semifinals while Pine City trimmed fourth-seeded Mora 6-0 in the quarter-finals.

³Pine City came out hitting,² said Johnson. ³They hit the ball well and just about everything they hit found a hole to go through or dropped just in front of our outfielders. And, when we hit the ball sharply it was right at someone.

³I donıt feel we overlooked Pine City because we had beaten them twice during the season. We looked good warming up and our attitude was good. It just wasnıt our day.²

Junior right-hander Sara Fogel started the game for the Wolves and pitched the full five innings. She allowed 11 hits and three walks while striking out three. Fogel was coming off strong performances in wins over Mora and St. Cloud Cathedral in Milacaıs final two regular season games.

The Dragons moved to a 3-1 lead after three innings before erupting for eight runs in the fifth inning.

Pine City pitcher Rhiannon Sauter, an eighth grader, held the Wolves to four hits.

Milaca used doubles by senior Whitney Bekius and junior Sadie Hemmerich to score its lone run in the first inning. Hemmerich also had a single and senior Tonya Arndt had a single.

³Our team came a long way and made a lot of progress this season,² said Johnson. ³We felt we had a good chance to make a strong run in tournament play.²

Milaca finished with a 12-7 record.

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Defending Sub-Section 18 and Section 6AA champion Big Lake trimmed Foley 7-0 in the other Sub-Section 18 semifinal game May 20. The Hornets then toppled Pine City 9-1 in the championship game Thursday, May 22, in St. Cloud.

Both Big Lake and Pine City advanced to the Section 6AA meet at St. Cloudıs Whitney Park. The Section 6AA meet concludes today (Thursday) at Whitney Park.

Minnewaska topped Cathedral 3-2 in the Sub-Section 19 title game Saturday at Freeport.

The Section 6AA champion will advance to the Class AA State Softball tournament June 6-7 at Mankato.

Milaca topped both Big Lake and Cathedral during the regular season.