CHERRY — Ely dug an early hole and couldn’t climb out Thursday, falling 9-3 to Cherry on the road.
Cherry jumped on the Timberwolves right out of the gate Thursday, scoring three in the first, adding one in the second, and pushing across four more in the third to build an 8-0 lead. By the time Ely settled in, the damage was done, and the Wolves were unable to recover.
That first stretch set the tone. Cherry used a mix of contact hitting and Ely miscues to scratch across three runs in the first, added another in the second, then really broke things open in the third with a string of singles that just kept finding grass. It wasn’t one big hit, just steady pressure that kept producing runs.
To Ely’s credit, they didn’t fold.
The fourth inning finally gave the Wolves some life, and it came in a hurry. Julia Zgonc got things started with a single, Lucy Oelke followed with another, and suddenly the lineup had a pulse. Peyton Huntington drove in a run with a hit, then Makenzi Huntington came through with a two-run single to cut the deficit to 8-3.
That was as close as it got.
Cherry tacked on another run in the fifth, helped along by an error, and from there the game settled into a quieter rhythm. Ely had chances, putting runners on in the fifth, but couldn’t come up with the hit to extend the rally.
Zoe MacKenzie went the distance in the circle for Ely, striking out five. Cherry finished with 10 hits, while the Timberwolves collected seven of their own, but couldn’t string together enough of them outside that fourth inning burst.
Zgonc led the way at the plate with two hits, while Peyton Huntington, Makenzi Huntington, Oelke, and Grace Flynn each added one. The Huntington sisters accounted for all three RBIs.
A scheduled home contest against Mesabi East on Monday was postponed due to unfavorable field conditions.