MOUNTAIN IRON—Through three innings, the North Woods softball team trailed Mountain Iron-Buhl 3-1. But that didn’t stop the Grizzlies from fighting their way back.
A two-run homer from River Cheney helped lead North Woods in the comeback as they out-scored MI-B 6-1 the rest of the way to get the 7-4 win.
“I’m proud of these girls,” North Woods Coach DeeAnn Sandberg said. “They came back today and battled out there and it paid off for us.”
The Rangers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Brenna Tiedeman walked, went to second base on a passed ball, and came in to score when Jersey Yernatich hit a RBI single.
The Grizzlies tied the game up in the top of the third inning.
Rory Bundy reached on a walk, stole second base, and came in to score when Nevada Gauthier grounded out.
The Rangers got the lead back in the bottom of the third.
Starting pitcher Natalie Bergman smashed a double, stole third base and came in to score when Kylee Renzaglia hit an RBI single.
They weren’t done yet in the inning.
Renzaglia stole second and third and came in to score when Izzy Ollila hit a single to make it a 3-1 Rangers lead.
Bergman put the Grizzlies down in order in the top of the fourth inning.
MI-B got three runners on base in the bottom of the fourth but just could not get a run across the plate.
The Grizzlies tied the game up with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Emarie Gibson walked, stole second, went to third when Ella Kruse hit an infield single.
She then came in to score when Bundy hit another single.
They tied the game when Kruse scored when Talise Goodsky grounded out.
Grizzlies starting pitcher Addison Burchardt put the Rangers down on three strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth.
The top of the sixth saw Zoey Burchardt hit a single and then steal second.
With one out in the inning, Cheney came to the plate and blasted the two-run bomb over the left-field fence to make it a 5-3 Grizzlies lead.
“That surely was a nice swing,” Sandberg said. “We sure did need that.”
The Rangers left another runner on base in the bottom of the sixth.
“We just couldn’t come up with a big hit,” Rangers head Coach Jesse White said. “When we need it, we are just not getting it.”
The Grizzlies added to their lead in the top of the seventh inning when Bundy hit another single.
Josie Gibson came off the bench to pitch-run for Bundy.
Addison Burchhardt was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second base with nobody out.
Both runners were moving when Gauthier was batting.
She grounded out and Gibson came all the way from second base to score the seventh Grizzlies run of the contest.
Gibson closed out the game on the mound for the win.
She gave up four runs on nine hits and struck out five.
The Rangers had one last chance in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Bergman singled with one out and went to second on the throw.
Renzaglia knocked her in with a RBI single.
Chiara Girino came in to pitch-run but was caught stealing for the second out of the inning.
Gibson then got Mattson to ground out to end the game.
“This was a nice win for us,” Sandberg said. “We made the plays we needed to play and hit the ball when we needed to.”
North Woods will travel to Cherry on Thursday.
Bergman picked up the loss on the mound for the Rangers, giving up the seven runs on five hits, while she struck out two.
Mountain Iron-Buhl travels to South Ridge on Thursday.
“This was a very disappointing game for us,” White said. “We left eight players on base and you will not win many games when you leave that many runners on base. We have to play better ball.”
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