Sports

Ladyjacks lose, find offense in busy week

By Tyler Ohmann

04/24/2012

It was a busy week for the Dakota College at Bottineau softball team. The Ladyjacks played four doubleheaders against stiff competition that left them with a 1-7 record at the end of it all.

However, the lone win was a highlight to a promising season.

“This certainly was the biggest win of the year, and perhaps the program,” stated Ladyjacks coach Wayne Johnson.

The win was a 9-0, five-inning clobbering of the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) Wildcats last Saturday afternoon at Tommy Turtle Park.

It was the first of a four game series against the Wildcats, and proved to the team that they can play with the best of the teams in the MonDak.

“It proves that when we play like we can we can beat anybody,” said sophomore Jess Mehling. “Especially against Wahpeton, who is such a big rival. It was a big win.”

The Ladyjacks jumped out to an early lead scoring four runs in each of the first two innings.

Amanda Schmidt did her part by tossing a gem, allowing only two hits and striking out six.

“We needed to get back on track after a tough week,especially with these region qualifying games against our rival the NDSCS Wildcats,” Johnson stated. “I thought we put together our best effort of the year.”

I was most impressed with our ability to take advantage of some Wildcat mistakes in the early innings. We failed to do that for much of the season but really came through with some clutch hits and aggressive base running today,” Johnson added.

AliceAnn Sloan led the Ladyjacks at the plate as she had two hits including a two-run single in the first that opened things up for DCB.

Sophomores Maria Espindola and Whitley Naismith also came up big for the Ladyjacks. Espindola had two runs batted in (RBI) on two hits, and Naismith clubbed three hits and scored three times.

Slight slide

The week did not begin on a great note for the Ladyajcks, however as DCB dropped a doubleheader to Minot State JV in make up games in Minot on Tuesday.

In game one former Ladyjack Keysha Jansen shutdown DCB by not allowing a single run in a 9-0 win for MSU.
Schmidt took the loss for DCB, but Johnson did not feel that Schimdt or the Ladyjacks played particularly bad.

“I thought we played pretty well in spite of the final score. I thought we pitched fine, played some excellent defense, and hit the ball pretty hard,” Johnson stated. “We ran into two problems No. 1, they are the best hitting we have seen this year and, No. 2, we left way too many runners in scoring position.”

Sophomore outfielder Destiny Kaus had a pair of hits in the contest, while freshman Courtney Hart had the only extra base hit with a double.

The second game looked like a turn around for the Ladyjacks as they drove in four runs in the first inning against the Beavers.

Mehling came up big with a two-run double in the opening frame, but the lead wouldn’t last long.

The Beavers came back with three runs, which turned out to be their worst inning of the game, as they scored 14 more times in the next three innings.

Jansen again got the win on the mound for MSU.

“Even though we put some runs on the board we did not play well in this game,” Johnson stated. “It was disappointing after getting off to a lead with four runs in the first inning to turn around and give them three back right away.”

Jillian Hole took the loss on the mound, but DCB had five errors and 10 of the 17 Beavers runs were unearned.
However, MSU did hit four home runs in the game.

The tough games continued as the Ladyjacks dropped another double header the following day on a road trip to Thief River Falls against Northland Community College.
In game one the Ladyjacks fell 10-2 as they were unable to get anything going offensively.

“We were pretty disappointed in the outcome of this game. We are scuffling a bit right now,” Johnson stated. “Our bats have gone somewhat silent and our play in the field has not been as sharp as we expect.”

Espindola led the Ladyjacks with two hits and an RBI. Schmidt took the loss on the mound.

Game two was much closer as the Ladyjacks lost by only a single run, again the plate production was not there.

“They jumped out for two runs in the first and our bats just were not productive enough to get us the win,” Johnson stated. “I thought Jillian Hole pitched well and we played much better defensively. We just could not come up the clutch hit and actually really hurt ourselves on the base paths.”

Mehling led the Ladyjacks as she went 2-for-3. Naismith hit a triple and scored DCB’s lone run in the loss.

Hole took the loss on the mound despite a solid effort after the slight hiccup in the opening frame.

Heated rivalry

After the Ladyjacks big win in the first of four games against NDSCS on Saturday, the tide turned toward the Wildcats for the rest of the weekend.

In game two it was another quite game at the plate for the Ladyjacks as Karlie Manton held DCB to just two hits.

“The second game didn’t go quite the way we would have liked,” Johnson stated. “Manton did a nice job of shutting our bats down, allowing only two hits and striking out ten.”

Hole allowed only three earned runs in the 5-0 loss, but walked three batters, which tripled her walk total for the entire season.

She gave up seven hits and struck out eight in the solid effort.

Kaus and Sadie Reindeau had the only hits for DCB.

In Sunday’s first game the Ladyjacks again went up against Manton, but this time were able to hit her, smashing 12 hits.
However, the Jacks scored only four times and fell 11-4 in the game.

“We were pretty disappointed in our effort in this game.  We made too many mental mistakes and it took us out of the game,” Johnson stated. “We made some poor decisions with the ball and in running the bases.”

Schmidt pitched the entire game allowing seven earned runs, while walking and striking out three.

Kaus went 3-for-4 on the day. Espindola and Emily Olafson each had two hits.

“On the positive side we did hit the ball well getting 12 hits,” Johnson stated. “I thought we had good at bats throughout the lineup.”

The final game of the weekend was an offensive explosion as both teams scored in double digits in runs. The Wildcats clobbered 19 hits and scored 17 times, while the Ladyjacks had 17 hits and 10 runs in the loss.

However, it was the Wildcats that came up with the biggest hits as they hit five home runs in the game. Laura Lindau went 5-for-5 with three home runs.

The Ladyjacks did fight back from an early deficit following the ejection of NDSCS coach Mark Mattson.

Kaus and Espindola led the Jacks at the plate going 3-for-5 and 4-for-4 respectively. Mehling was 3-for-3.

Despite losing three of the four games against their rivals, the Ladyjacks were glad their bats came back over the weekend.

“Bismarck, that is kind of batting practice, but Wahpeton is definitely strong pitching wise,” Mehling said. “They were a lot stronger than they were last year, but I have yet to see anybody who is unhittable.”

“Everybody just has to keep their eye on the ball and get back to fundamentals with these kind of pitchers,” Mehling added.

Mehling has been steady for the Ladyjacks as she has gotten hits in all but three of the Ladyjacks 18 games.

The main thing Mehling believes the Jacks have to work on is base running.

“Our base running is our big thing,” Mehling said. “We are hitting them, our last game was against their (NDSCS) number one pitcher, and we were hitting her, we just have people step up and be smart on the bases.”

Johnson, too hopes the Jacks can improve next time around against the Wildcats.

“It was disappointing to go 1-3 in the first series with the Wildcats, especially after picking up the first win,” Johnson stated. “Both teams have proven they can hit the ball so it will come down to making plays defensively when we meet again in early May.”

DCB currently sits at 7-11 on the season. Mehling hopes the Ladyjacks can rebound by supporting one another.

“Everybody has to do their job, everyone on the bench has to do their job,” Mehling said. “Everybody has to support each other when they see a teammate down.”

“I know our pitchers get frustrated very easily, so on defense we have to have their back constantly,” Mehling added.

The Ladyjacks play a pair of games against Minot State JV on Thursday at Tommy Turtle before opening a six-game series at home against MonDak opponent Dawson.