Left: In a game against Carlton, Anna Carmen waited patiently for the ball from her catcher’s position while the ump gets ready to call balls or strikes. Above: When she’s not pitching, Kristina Rude wields a mighty bat for the Vikings. Although the girls only have two wins, they have been close in several other games.
Viking fast-pitch softball players ran into a buzz saw on April 29 when they traveled to Two Harbors to face the Agates and the name of the saw was Madison Olson.
Olson, the Agates’ starting pitcher, struck out 20 Viking players in 7 innings.
“She’s good. She’s quick, she hits her spots, but the ball doesn’t have any movement on it. Frankly, we made her look better than she is,” said Head Coach Jessie Anderson.
The Vikings managed one run in the fourth inning and two runs in the sixth inning. For the game, Kristina Rude had a single and CeCe Schnobrich got two hits, one of them a double.
“We weren’t making plays at first base. We had trouble catching the ball. Really, other than a couple of big hits, Two Harbors didn’t do anything special.
“Our girls weren’t able to hit the ball. We have to start gaining some confidence and start hitting. Part of that is putting time in practice. We have had several girls miss games and practices for one reason or another. We have to have more reps on the field whether it’s batting or fielding to get better,” said Coach Anderson.
Vikings lose to Barnum
The Vikings traveled to Barnum on Tuesday, May 3 to take on the Barnum Bombers.
After taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the Vikings ran out of offense and Barnum rallied to score 4 runs in the second, 2 in the third and added 1 more run in the fourth inning.
That three-inning flurry proved to be more than enough, as the Barnum Bombers went on to defeat the Vikings 7-2. The Vikings were only able to manufacture one more run in the fourth inning, and were held to five hits for the game.
Sarissa Falk, pitched the first three innings and Kristina Rude pitched the last three innings for the Vikings. Barnum didn’t bat in the seventh inning because the Vikings failed to catch them in their last at bats.
Viking players to get hits were Signe Larson, CeCe Schnobrich, Anna Carman, Kristina Rude, and Alexis Eliasen.
“We had one big error in the second inning when the ball went under one of our player’s glove and rolled to the fence allowing four runs to score. Other than that, we just couldn’t generate much offense,” said Coach Anderson.
Conditions for the game were great, she said, “The weather was beautiful.”
To date the Vikings have had to play in lots of cold, wind, snow and rain.
“It’s hard to have continuity right now. We have had sick kids and kids that have had to miss games for one reason or another. I hope that changes in the near future,” said Anderson.
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