High School Softball

Minneota/Canby opened the season on Friday by splitting a doubleheader, falling to Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 8-7 in the first game, and beating Ortonville 8-1 in the second game.
"We had our first practice on the field on Thursday," said Minneota/Canby coach Heidi Louwagie. "We were also able to hit some pop flies on a dry spot on Wednesday."
The Vikings lost their starting pitcher, Madison Hennen, to a knee injury prior to the season, but got a good outing from Brooke DeSmet, who started both ends of the twinbill. DeSmet walked only two batters in the 10 innings she worked.
"Brooke pitched great," said Louwagie. "My goal for her was to throw strikes and have faith in her defense to back her up, then have faith that our offense could answer the opponent's hitting. CGB had some great hitters, but our defense and offense did exactly what we asked for. We gave up some hits, but played relatively clean ball."
Louwagie was also pleased to see her hitters take some healthy cuts. The Vikings amassed 19 hits in the two games.
"I think only one girl went down looking in the two games," said Louwagie. "All of the girls hit the ball hard and ran aggressively. Izabelle (Hulzebos) laid down an amazing bunt that got us in scoring position in the first game."
AshleeAnn Frazeur had four hits and four RBI in the two games. Kiersyn Hulzebos and Faith Myhre had three hits apiece.
DeSmet scattered nine hits in the CGB game, allowing five earned runs while walking one and striking out four. DeSmet then worked three solid innings in the second game against Ortonville, giving up just one hit and one unearned run in three innings for the win in the five-inning game. Joelle Otto relieved and pitched two hitless innings.
"Since Brooke pitched so well in the first game, I decided to start her in the second game as well," Louwagie said. "Joelle had not pitched at the varsity level yet, and I hoped to get a few runs in and put her in the game. I guess I really didn't have to do that because Joelle looked fantastic. She had great control and mowed down the batters with efficiency."

Game One
CGB 8, Minneota/Canby 7
Clinton-GB...............122 101 1 - 8 9 5
Minneota/Canby.......211 030 0 - 7 9 7

Minneota/Canby hitting: Kiersyn Hulzebos 2-for-4, 3b, run, rbi; Faith Myhre 1-for-4, run; Isabelle Hulzebos 0-for-2, 2 runs, sac, bb, sb; Dakota Pesch 1-for-4, 2b, run, rbi; AshleeAnn Frazeur 2-for-4, 2b, sb, run, 2 rbi; Tessah Anhalt 1-for-3, rbi; Joelle Otto 0-for-3; Kenadi Arndt 0-for-3; Rachel Fairchild 2-for-3, run

Minneota/Canby pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Brooke DeSmet (L) 7-9-8-5-1-4

Game Two
Minneota/Canby 8, Ortonville 1
Minneota......................231 20 - 8 10 4
Ortonville.....................010 00 - 0 0 0

Minneota/Canby hitting: Kiersyn Hulzebos 1-for-3, 2 runs, bb, sb; Faith Myhre 2-for-3, 2 runs, 2b, rbi; Isabelle Hulzebos 2-for-3, 2 runs, sb; AshleeAnn Frazeur 2-for-3, 2b, 2 rbi; Rachel Fairchild 0-for-2, bb, rbi; Dakota Pesch 1-for-3, rbi; Tessah Anhalt 0-for-3; Brooke DeSmet 1-for-2, 2b; Joelle Otto 0-for-1; Tylee Groenhoff 1-for-3, rbi; Autumn Tooley 0-for-0, 2 runs, sb

Minneota/Canby pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Brooke DeSmet (W) 3-1-1-0-0-1, Joelle Otto 2-0-0-0-1-1