ELY – The Ely High School softball team is playing a waiting game to get their spring season in gear as winter maintains a tight grip on the North Country. Like all other sports this spring, the Timberwolves’ girls team has been mostly confined to the gymnasium to hone their skills while waiting for the snow to melt.
Three out of their first four games, starting April 11, were postponed, and an unfriendly weather forecast delayed a home-opening series early this week as the team waits for the snow to melt and their soggy field to dry out.
Ely did get a chance to kick-start their season on the road last week at Mt. Iron-Buhl on their artificial turf field and came back with a 13-11 revenge victory, dating back to last season when the young Timberwolves team lost two of three games to the Rangers, including a Section 7A playoff game.
“Our schedule has changed multiple times so far,” said Cory Lassi as he returns for his second year as head coach. “We have already lost out on a fourth of our season. I think the snow is ending, and we are waiting for the chance to get outside. We practiced outdoors for about 30 minutes total this spring.”
He was hopeful the team could travel to Chisholm on Thursday, April 28, and return home on Friday, April 29, to host Two Harbors.
The Timberwolves will boast plenty of experience this spring as most of last year’s roster is intact to build on a 10-win season and first-round playoff win.
“We lost (catcher) Sydni Marshall, our only senior last year, and gained a couple of girls, including Cedar Ohlhauser, who hasn’t played since her eighth-grade year when she started at catcher,” he said.
Lassi said the team’s new catcher had a great outing last week when Ohlhauser threw out an MIB base stealer at second. “It was a huge play for us. Later she hit a triple and came around to score. She’s already making a big impact,” he said.
Senior Lexy Halberg, didn’t play last year, also added two hits for the Timberwolves last week.
Other key returners include:
Katrina Seliskar (Senior: P/ .328 average/ 21 RBI/ 8 pitching wins/ struck out 80),
Charly Flom (Senior: SS/ .491 average/ 36 runs/ 31 SB),
Rachel Coughlin (Junior: 3B/ .367 average/ 15 RBI),
Kate Coughlin (Junior OF/ .364 average/ 22 RBI/ 10 2B),
Madeline Kallberg (Junior 1B/ .323 average/ 22 RBI ), and
Raven Sanio (Senior OF), who was out with an injury for the majority of last season.
“We return eight out of our nine starters and 11 players that had significant playing time last year,” Lassi said. “We should have a pretty solid lineup top to bottom in our (batting) order.”
In their first and only game of the season, Lassi watched the team score six runs in the first inning against MIB on April 19.
“We didn’t have any base runners in the second and third innings and kind of coasted there for a bit,” he said, “but we put our foot back on the gas.”
The Timberwolves scored four times in the sixth inning to get the win.
Starting pitcher Katrina Seliskar went the distance against the Rangers, giving up 14 hits and recording two strikeouts. She was also aided by two double plays. Junior outfielder Kate Coughlin and Zoe Mackenzie each had three hits. Seliskar and Clare Thomas each had two hits in the win.
Lassi said despite the delayed season, he finds that the gymnasium practice sessions can be very productive.
“It does force you to work on small things and fundamentals,” he said. “Granted, we are finishing up week five in the gym, but we are focusing on some important things that we may miss when we are finally outside.”
As for an outlook for this season, Lassi said, “We are excited to build on the experience and growth that we saw last year from this young team. We are hoping, that with a year of experience added with our older players, we will be able to find a way to win more of our close games. We finished last season with a 10-11 record. We want to finish the season above .500 and compete for a top four seed from the north for a home playoff game.”