CHISHOLM—The Mountain Iron-Buhl softball team has lost seven of their last eight games, and the biggest culprit has been scoring runs.
So Ranger coach Jesse White tried to do something about that, like taking chances on the bases to move runners along.
It worked to perfection as Mountain Iron-Buhl stole home twice en route to a 9-3 victory over Chisholm at Pergol Field Wednesday.
White needed to shake things up, and his aggressiveness on the base paths turned the trick.
“It was nice to get a win because we’ve been struggling as of late,” White said. “They were all close games, games we should have, or at least half of them, we should have won.
“We’ve been having trouble moving runners. Today, we got some timely hitting, some good base running and that helped out.”
The Bluestreaks had the chance to get on the board first when Kylie Maki doubled and Lila Maki walked. With runners on second and third with no out, Ranger starting pitcher Jersey Yernatich got two pop outs and a strikeout to get out of the jam.
“We squandered chances right from the first inning on,” Chisholm coach Don Quirk said. “We had two on, second and third and nobody out. That was a microcosm of how the whole game went.”
The Rangers got on the board in the second inning when Izzy Mattson singled and Yernatich walked. Mattson would eventually score to make it 1-0.
Mountain Iron-Buhl made it 2-0 in the third as Colie Otto singled. With one out, Kylee Renzaglia was hit by a pitch, then Natalie Bergman singled home the run.
The Bluestreaks got on the board in the third as Kylie Maki and Lila Maki both singled. Abby Duchene singled home a run, then with one out, Avaya Dobis hit an RBI single to make it 2-2.
Chisholm took a 3-2 lead in the fourth as Duchene hit an RBI single, and that’s when White got creative on the bases.
“With the way we’ve been struggling, it was anybody’s game,” White said. “We were hoping that the bats would come around when we needed them. They did. They had good at bats where we haven’t recently.”
Otto started things off with a single, then Lindsay Olin singled her to third.
That’s when Otto timed the throw back to the pitcher and raced home with the tying run. Olin followed suit and Mountain Iron-Buhl took a 4-3 lead.
“Just looking at who was up to bat and because some of our batters have been struggling, we tried to manufacture runs the best we could,” White said. “I could see opportunities there, we had two fast runners, so we sent them.
“Sometimes, when you’re in a slump, you have to find ways to score. I was taking my chances. If they don’t make it, it’s on me, but we practice that kind of stuff, especially in the summer. If we have the opportunities, we’ll take them.”
That’s what the Rangers did in the sixth inning, too.
Chiara Girino would steal home, plus Mountain Iron-Buhl got contributions for Otto, who hit an RBI fielder’s choice ground ball, and Renzaglia, who had a two-run single in a four-run sixth inning to make it 8-3.
“It’s getting caught not paying attention,” Quirk said. “It’s a tough game. There’s a lot to this game. It’s always a thinking game. We’ve been talking all year about maximizing that part of the game.”
The Bluestreaks had their fair share of runners on base, but they couldn’t find that clutch base hit to drive them home.
“We had chances,” Quirk said. “We weren’t able to capitalize. We let them in the game too long, then we had our own mistakes at the end of the game. They were able to get a bigger inning at the end, and that was it.”
The Rangers added one run in the seventh, this time on a double steal as Brenna Tiedeman stole second and Megan Carlson scampered home when the throw went through the bag.
Yernatich got the pitching win, tossing four innings of eight-hit ball. She struck out seven. Carlson worked three innings, allowing one hit. She struck out five.
Duchene gave up eight hits in seven innings of work. She struck out 10.
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