Forest Lake falls to CDH in close matchup, beats MV
On Tuesday, April 30, the Rangers visited the home of the Bears seeking a victory after losing 4-8 in a home matchup exactly one week prior.
This time the Rangers relaxed and found their rhythm, dismantling the Bears in a 16-0 shutout.
In the Rangers earlier loss, head coach Sean Hall said, “We were concerned about their pitcher with certain things – we were focusing on some of the things that we couldn’t control in that first game.”
But in a game of momentum, Hall helped his team focus on each at-bat.
“Whereas the next game, we were focused on going up there and getting the bats rolling. It’s a streaky game sometimes, and when you’re on a roll – we just kept getting on a roll. It snowballed in a positive way for us,” he said.
The girls got on the board with a 4-0 lead early in the first inning, and kept their momentum thriving with another quad of runs that came in the second, pushing their lead to 8-0 in what turned out to be a lopsided affair. The Rangers added three and four runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively, resulting in the game being called with Forest Lake’s lead at 16-0.
“The girls did an incredible job of hitting the ball, and the great thing about the team the last few years is that they’ve really used some of their losses as fuel to work harder and figure out what they need to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Hall said.
Pitcher Hannah Tong allowed just a single hit on four strikeouts after only having to pitch three innings in the rout. Junior pitcher Kira Fielder was also on the mound, recording a strikeout in one inning on no hits allowed.
“Hannah has done a great job for us. She’s not only a pitcher, but she’s becoming a great leader for us as well,” Hall said. “How she handles herself now when things aren’t going well, whether we are winning or losing, she’s staying positive and looking at the big picture and has done a great job in the leadership aspect of things. She’s really grown as a player.”
The Rangers then aimed for another revenge victory over Cretin-Derham Hall in a home game on Wednesday, May 1, after a 12-2 loss to the Raiders on April 10. But this one, while close, was not to be, as the Rangers suffered a 5-4 loss.
The girls found themselves down 3-0 early in the first inning, before Forest Lake began to ramp up the pressure on the pitching end. The squad would climb to a 4-3 lead before allowing another run, trailing 5-4 heading into the top of the seventh inning.
In the contest, junior Ava Stenglein tallied a pair of hits, with sophomore Avery Muellner going two for two in at bats while adding a run and two RBIs, before junior Brie Bakke recorded a hit and batted in a single run.
“Cretin [Derham Hall] is one of the best hitting lineups I’ve coached against in all of my years of high school coaching. They’ve got lefties that hit for power, lefties that are speedy, power handed right-handed hitters – and it’s just a really tough matchup,” Hall said. “They jumped out on us and got a nice 3-0 lead. We battled back and took the lead until they had some on base and had a base hit right down the middle to take the lead again, and we just couldn’t quite come back and tie it up.”
But the Rangers bounced back with a victory over Suburban East Conference rival Stillwater on Friday, May 3.
The game remained steady until the bottom of the third and fourth innings, where the Rangers racked in three runs apiece to jump out to a 6-0 lead. Runs from both teams in the sixth inning cemented the 7-1 Forest Lake win.
Tong gave up just four hits on seven strikeouts, while Dowdall, a sophomore, put on a show with three hits on three runs while adding in an RBI – as sophomore Karianne Drury ran in two runs while going three for four at bat on three hits. Hall detailed the message to his team following the six-run victory.
“Whether you’re winning or losing, the Suburban East Conference is so tough. You’re going up against someone who’s really good every single night. The conference itself will prepare you for the games that really matter,” Hall said. “Yes, conference championships would be great, but our focus is how can we keep getting better so when we get to sections and state, we’re going to be playing the best softball that we can.”
And another shutout was clinched on Monday, May 6, as the Ranger girls packed a walloping punch to the Mustangs, defeating them by a final score of 10-0 at home to move the team to a strong 10-3 record on the season. Forest Lake hosted Irondale on Wednesday, May 8, in a contest that was not yet completed by press time.
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