CLOQUET- Silver Bay was a double dose of trouble for the North Woods softball team in the 7A sectional tournament, as the Mariners bumped the Grizzlies out of the event with a 9-1 win in their elimination round game on Tuesday.
After steamrolling Northeast Range 24-0 in the opening round, the third-seeded Grizzlies drew Silver Bay for a second-round game on May 26 in Grand Rapids. The sixth-seeded Mariners beat Mt. Iron-Buhl 10-7 in their tourney opener.
Silver Bay jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with two unearned runs in the first inning and a pair of runs on an RBI single in the second. Mariners hurler Danika Thompson shackled North Woods hitters through three innings, and reliever Hope Ernest did the same in the fourth.
Karah Scofield got the Grizzlies on the board in the fifth when she smacked a single to bring home River Cheney, and a grounder by Addy Hartway brought Lauren Burnett home to narrow the gap to 4-2. Skyler Yernatich reached base on a fielding error, scoring Scofield, and Hartway knotted the game at 4-4 when she stole home.
The Mariners got to North Woods pitcher Evelyn Brodeen for three singles, a double, and a walk in the top of the seventh inning, scoring four runs to put the Grizzlies in an 8-4 hole going into their last at-bat.
North Woods rallied with an RBI single by Hartway and a two-run double by Brodeen, but came up one run short, losing 8-7 to drop into the elimination bracket.
Win over Ely
A familiar foe, the Ely Timberwolves, awaited the Grizzlies in the next game. The Wolves won their opening game against Cromwell-Wright before being knocked into the elimination bracket courtesy of a 7-0 loss to Cherry.
North Woods and Ely met twice in the regular season, with the Grizzlies winning both.
A hallmark of this year’s North Woods squad has been keeping cool under pressure, with multiple come-from-behind wins on its resume, and they had to draw on that experience again after Ely scored five runs in their first three at-bats.
Yernatich slammed a bases-loaded triple in the bottom of the third, then scored on an Avery Thiel grounder to make the score 5-4.
After Ely added another run in the top of the fourth, the Grizzlies responded with an RBI single by Hartway and an unearned run by Burnett on an error to tie the game 6-6.
Ely pitcher Zoe MacKenzie got off to a rough start in the bottom of the sixth, walking the first three Grizzlies she faced and then giving up a run on a wild pitch. North Woods took quick advantage with an RBI single by Hartway and a two-run double by Helen Koch to go up 10-6. Koch came around to score on a single by Thiel, Yernatich scored on an error, and Cheney, in her second at-bat of the inning, hit a double to drive home Ella Cornelius for the Grizzlies’ seventh run of the inning and a 13-6 lead.
The Wolves mounted a comeback with four runs in the top of the seventh, but came up short, exiting the tourney with the 13-10 loss.
Mariners again
The Grizzlies had a chance for payback on Tuesday as Silver Bay fell into the elimination bracket courtesy of a 5-3 loss to Cherry.
However, with Hope Ernest on the mound again for the Mariners, the North Woods offense couldn’t get on track. The Grizzlies mustered a solitary run in the fourth inning when Burnett ripped an RBI double, and had only five hits for the game.
Silver Bay broke the game open late, scoring seven runs in the final two innings for a 9-1 win.
North Woods finished the season with a record of 12-4. The Grizzlies improved on last year’s sectional tournament performance when they were eliminated in three games.