On a cold day, the Lyle/Pacelli softball team lost a little of its focus and lost to the Owatonna Huskies 6-4.

Wednesday, April 12, 2000

On a cold day, the Lyle/Pacelli softball team lost a little of its focus and lost to the Owatonna Huskies 6-4.

"We had a few too many mental mistakes today," L/P coach Tom Clements said. "If we eliminated mental mistakes and physical errors we probably would have won the game by a run."

Amy Bickler got the start on the mound for L/P. It was the first varsity start for the highly active and athletic sophomore who only began pitching last summer.

She was a little wild and a couple of errors in the field didn’t help her.

The result were single runs in the first and second innings for the Huskies.

After Bickler gave up a walk and a base hit to start the third inning, Melissa Ehret replaced her.

"Bickler learned how mentally tough you need to be when your on the mound," Clements said.

The Huskies plated one of the two runners that Ehret inherited to take a 3-0 lead. Ehret, however, did not allow an earned run the rest of the way. Her pitches were working well and she made numerous batters hit to third baseman Erin Evans, who was flawless in her performance.

Overall, it was a far from flawless performance from the two teams. A total of 12 errors in the contest led to six unearned runs.

L/P finally got to Owatonna starter Jill Cahoon in the third inning, scoring two runs. The Owatonna senior has been pitching with the varsity for three years.

Bickler led off the third with a hard shot to shortstop. It went through the shortstop’s legs and into left field. Bickler legged it out to second and then went to third after an over throw. She then raced home on a bad throw to third base for a little league home run.

L/P then loaded the bases on a couple of walks and an error. Joni Sheedy (3-for-4 with an RBI) then smacked a single to left, driving in a run. With no outs and the bases loaded, L/P had a golden opportunity for a big inning. Cahoon then squashed those hopes. She got Tammy May to ground back to her and Cahoon got the force at the plate. Cahoon then struck out Evans and got another groundout for the final out.

L/P had as many opportunities in the game as Owatonna. L/P twice left the bases loaded and ended up stranding 12 base runners; Owatonna stranded one less.

"Cahoon did a superb job today," Owatonna (1-2) coach Steve Peterson said. "Our defense let us down in our in our first two ball games with the other team getting the breaks.

"This game we didn’t play that well on defense, but we got some defensive breaks from L/P to get the win. We got the monkey off our backs."

L/P is now 0-2 to start the season with its first Southeast Conference doubleheader coming on Friday in Lyle against Spring Grove/Caledonia. Game time is 4:30 p.m.

Owatonna 6, Lyle/Pacelli 4

Owatonna Lyle/Pacelli

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Vizina ss 4 0 1 1 Bickler p 5 1 2 0

Arndt cf 3 1 1 0 Leif ss 3 2 0 0

Milbraith 3b 3 0 1 0 Judd c 4 0 1 0

Cahoon p 2 2 1 0 Schnieder lf 3 0 0 0

Madson c 4 0 1 0 Sheedy dh 4 1 3 1

Hanson 1b 3 0 1 0 May 1b 4 0 0 0

Rue pr 0 1 0 0 Evans 3b 4 0 1 0

Edel rf 1 1 0 0 Drees rf 3 0 0 1

Black lf 2 0 0 1 Nelson 2b 2 0 0 0

Jirele 2b 2 0 0 0 Emiliusen rf 2 0 0 0

Hamner 2b 1 1 0 0

Totals 25 6 6 2 34 4 7 2

Errors-Vizina (3), Arndt, Hanson (3), May (2), Leif, Emiliusen, Judd. LOB-Owatonna 11, L/P 12. 2B-Arndt.

Owatonna 111 021 0 – 6

Lyle/Pacelli 002 011 0 – 2

Owatonna IP H R ER BB SO

Cahoon 7 7 4 2 5 4

Lyle/Pacelli

Bickler 2 3 3 2 3 1

Ehret 5 3 3 0 2 1

HBP-by Bickler (Cahoon), by Ehret (Vizina, Milbraith). Bickler pitched to two batters in the third.