Above: Abbie Crawford took the mound for the Vikings on Tuesday, May 15 and pitched five strong innings before being relieved by Abby Prom. The Vikings played a good game but fell 9-7 to the Agates. Left: Ella Sporn gets set to face the Two Harbors pitcher. Sporn hit to the second baseman and was thrown out at first in this at-bat.
With the season rapidly coming to a close the Cook County girls’ fast pitch softball team is cramming in a lot of games in a short period of time before the playoffs start.
Cook County softball lost a tough game on Thursday, May 10 to McGregor 10-9.
Taking an early lead, the Vikings were ahead until the sixth inning when some untimely walks by relief pitcher Abbie Crawford allowed McGregor to take the lead, said head coach Peter Lucken.
“We were playing short staffed today,” added the coach. “Four girls were missing, three of them starters.”
Despite being short on varsity players, Lucken felt this loss was one that easily could have been put in the win column.
“In my eyes this was a very winnable game. We lost focus for just a bit too long and made some mistakes and they took advantage. “We also didn’t have a lot of great at bats even though we managed six hits led again by Alyssa Spry and Harleigh Lindquist.”
Coach Lucken added, “This is one of those games you have to forget about and move on.”
Vikings polish off the Agates
The Vikings traveled down the shore to face the Two Harbors Agates on Friday, May 11, winning 14-10 during a chilly day game on Friday.
Jumping out to a 4-0 lead after the first inning, the Vikings never looked back. “We had a lot of girls put some great at bats together, worked some counts and came away with a bunch of base runners,” said Lucken.
The Agate pitchers struggled to throw strikes early which cost them the game.
Carlton
The Vikings lost to Carlton 15-4 on Monday, May 14 in a home game.
“We were right in the game until the fifth inning,” said head coach Peter Lucken, adding, “Errors and strike outs were what did us in, in this game.”
The hard-hitting Bulldogs wore down the Viking defense. “Carlton can hit the ball hard and we knew that going in and mentally I don’t think we were quite ready for it,” said the coach.
Two Harbors gets revenge
On Tuesday, May 15, Two Harbors rolled into town and played a heck of a game to beat the Vikings 9-7. It was a back-and-forth affair right until the end and to be fair, the Agates got a little help from the umpire.
“We were in this one the whole game,” coach Lucken said. “It was one bad inning of defense that did it for us.”
Still, the Vikings also made some great plays on defense. “Emma Gesch robbed a home run which was great to see, she also had a couple of hits for us,” added the coach.
Gesch’s catch was the catch of the year. Emma catapulted over the fence to make the spectacular grab. She got up unhurt, wearing a big smile as the crowd cheered for her great athletic play.
“Once again, one bad inning was all it took for Two Harbors to put the game out of reach,” said the coach.
“We need to figure out a way to play all seven innings,” mused Lucken.
However, in the fifth inning with the Vikings up 4-2 and Abbie Crawford on the mound, an Agate player fouled off two pitches, took two pitches for balls and then was called on a third strike. The umpire, however, lost count of one of the foul balls and the count went to two-two, with the batter eventually walking. The Agates scored three unearned runs after that missed call. Such is baseball, and to be fair, the Vikings had plenty of chances to win.
The Vikings played again on the road against Floodwood on Thursday, May 17. It was the Vikings’ last regular game of the season with playoffs starting on Tuesday, May 22.
Go Vikings!
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