Friday, May 05, 2000

LYLE – Lyle/Pacelli kept its Southeast Conference championship drive going with a doubleheader sweep of LeRoy-Ostrander/Grand Meadow.

L/P came from behind with a two-run, two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth to win the opener 5-4.

The tying and winning runs coming home on a triple from Tammy May.

Then, in Game Two, Melissa Ehret and Amy Bickler combined on a three-hit shutout to lead the way to a 7-0 victory.

L/P (9-3, 9-1) now faces a first- place showdown with Houston on Monday. The Cougars are 11-1 in the conference with only Monday’s doubleheader left on their conference schedule

Game One epitomized the determination of L/P to win the SEC title and the hard luck year of LOGM.

"We have now lost six one-run games this year," LOGM (3-7, 4-8) coach Bill Benkstein said. "We have a good club, but it just hasn’t been going our way this year."

LOGM got off to a hot start in their initial plate appearance of the day. They had four hits off Ehret, including two triples off the bats of Jill Johnson and Jamie Rowe resulting in three runs. Rowe was cut down at the plate – a elaborate Nicole Emiliusen-to-Kari Leif-to-May-to-Buffy Judd put out – while trying to stretch her triple into a home run.

Ehret settled down after that allowing no runs over the next four innings of work. Meanwhile L/P scored a run in the second and two more in the third. Erin Evans plated Joni Sheedy with a sacrifice fly in the second.

Then LOGM pitcher Jenny Linderman hit Nicole Emiliusen with a pitch to lead off the third. Bickler then laid down a perfect bunt that no one but the right fielder could get to. Bickler ended up at third on the play and Emiliusen scored after a throwing error by the right fielder to third base. Bickler then scored on a bunt off the bat of Kari Leif. Leif was safe at first on another throwing error.

Linderman kept L/P in check over the next two innings behind some fine play from her defense, including a 4-6-3 double play in the fourth.

Heading into the sixth, the game was still tied at three. LOGM then scored the go ahead run in the top of the sixth on a single, a hit batter, a sacrifice bunt, and a run scoring infield single by Annie Steinbach.

In the bottom of the sixth, Linderman got the first two batters out.

Jessie Schnieder then got the game-winning rally going with a single to left, Sheedy followed with a second straight single to left. May then smacked the ball over the center fielder’s head and raced all the way to third with pinch runner Laura Nelson and Sheedy scoring on the play.

"That was a big hit," Benkstein said. "I had the out fielders a couple of steps in to cut down the run at the plate. I guess that was the wrong decision."

"It was a high pitch that was perfect to hit," May said. "I didn’t over stride. It was the best hit I have had all year, my first triple of the season.

"I was hitting like zip most of the year, but it has come around the last couple of games."

Ehret struck out four, walked no one and hit one batter in the game. Linderman struck out three, walked no one, and hit one batter.

In the nightcap, L/P got seven base knocks with Evans hitting a triple and May a double. Nelson picked up two RBI.

Bickler was the starter on the mound for L/P. She faced one batter giving up a single, before L/P coach Tom Clements took her out and put Ehret in.

"Amy wasn’t quite warmed up," Clements said. "I had her starting the game, so she was out there for one batter."

Ehret then came in and did a masterful job keeping the LOGM batters off stride for five innings giving up just two hits and striking out five.

"She did a great job in that second game of changing speeds against us," Benkstein said.

Bickler then pitched the sixth inning.

"She threw it hard and they could not catch up with her pitches," Clements said.

Bickler walked one and got three outs to the right side of the field.

Game One

LOGM 300 001-4 9 2

L/P 012 002-5 5 1

Linderman and Davis; Ehret and Judd. 3B-LOGM: J. Johnson, Rowe; L/P: May. 2B- LOGM: Davis , L/P: Bickler. DP-LOGM: Skifter-to-H.Johnson to-J. Johnson.

Game Two

L/P 200 230-7 7 0

LOGM 000 000-0 3 3

Bickler, Ehret (1), Bickler (6) and Judd; Mensink, Linderman (5), H. Johnson (6) and Davis. 3B-L/P: Evans. 2B-L/P: May.

Blooming Prairie 16, JWP 3

The Blossoms won the battle for first place in the Gopher Conference Tuesday in Blooming Prairie.

Both teams headed into the game with one loss in the Conference. Coming out with the win put Blooming Prairie on top with a 6-1 conference record, 8-2 overall.

"We had three errors in the first inning that led to three J-W-P runs," Blooming Prairie coach Chad Gimbel said, "After that we played really well and jumped on them with eight runs in the second inning."

BP had 12 hits in the game with Sara Anderson going 3-for-3 with three runs scored. Annie Hanson was 2-for-2 with two runs scored, two RBI, two stolen bases, and a double. Jana Peterson was also 2-for-2. She added an RBI.

Abbey Bergstrom got the win. She pitched four innings giving up one earned run and five hits. She struck out five and walked one. Steph Thompson pitched the fifth inning for the Blossoms and struck out one.

Blue Devils split

Riverland split a softball doubleheader with Rochester Technical and Community College in Rochester Tuesday. The Yellow Jackets won the opener 12-4 and the Blue Devils the night cap 4-3.

Baseball

L-O sweeps Lyle/Pacelli

The LeRoy-Ostrander/Grand Meadow Bulldogs swept Lyle/Pacelli, 10-1 and 7-3 in Lyle.

LOGM’s Ryan King was the star on the mound and with the bat in the opener. He gave up only four hits in the game. At the plate he led off four innings and got on base each time and came around to score. His catcher, Justin Stevens, hit three doubles in the contest. LOGM scored one in the first, four in the third, two in the fourth, and three in the sixth. Danny Frank stroked a double for L/P in the game.

LOGM used a six-run fourth inning to get the win in the nightcap.

Grant Lunning and Stevens got the scoring going for the Bulldogs in the first inning hitting back-to-back doubles. L/P then scored three in the third to stake pitcher Jason Helgeson to a 3-1 lead.

Helgeson started the two-out rally with a single, Dean DeBoer then walked, Josh Kunze singled home Helgeson, and then Phil Halbach singled home Kunze and DeBoer. Frank kept the rally going with a single, but it went no further.

L/P is now 2-12 on the year and 1-9 in the Southeast Conference.