The Minnewaska Area softball team pulled off a big upset in the opening round of the Section 3AA Softball Tournament at Morris, Thursday.  The Lakers were seeded sixth but edged third-seeded New London-Spicer in the elimination-game, 6-5.

Less than one month earlier, the Wildcats beat the Lakers 23-2 in a game played at Minnewaska Area High School.

The Lakers, coached by Luke Barkeim and Jesse Johnson, lost to second-seeded Morris Area-CA in the next game, 15-0, but will live to see another day as Minnewaska is set to play Litchfield at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, May 25 at Marshall in the consolations.

If Minnewaska Area wins that game, it would play again at 3:30 p.m. the same day at Marshall.  The tournament continues May 28 and 30 at Marshall.  Going 2-0 the first day were Dassel-Cokato, Jackson County Central, Luverne and Morris Area-CA.

In the results that follow is information about the Lakers’ 6-4 loss to Osakis to close out the regular season, Friday, May 17.  Minnewaska goes into its game against Litchfield, May 25, with a 7-15 record, which includes a 4-10 mark in the WCC.

Osakis 6, Waska 4 

The Lakers closed out the regular season with a 6-4 home loss to Osakis, Friday, May 17.   Waska took a 2-0 lead after one inning and still was tied at 3-3 through three before Osakis went up for good with a three-run fifth inning.

Avery Lewison had a solo homerun in the early innings for the Lakers, while Ally Mogard had a double and scored a run, Jenna Drewes was 1-for-4 with three RBI and a stolen base, and Mataya Mix was 2-for-2.

Mix also started on the mound and took the loss.  She pitched six innings, giving up 11 hits, six runs (three earned) and four walks with five strikeouts.  Norah VanZee came in to pitch the final inning. Also scoring for the Lakers were Haillie Schulz and Xi Li.

Section 3AA Tourney 

The Lakers upset NLS in the opening round of the Section 3AA Tourney, Thursday at Morris, 6-5.

Minnewaska plated five runs in the first inning and then, after NLS had cut the deficit to 5-4, the Lakers scored one more run in the sixth.  The Wildcats scored their final run in the bottom-half of the sixth, but couldn’t get the tying run across.

Mataya Mix improved to 5-8 on the mound with the victory.  Norah VanZee pitched four innings of relief to earn the save.

Offensively, Haillie Schulz was 2-for-3 with a run and two stolen bases and Eliana Marthaler was 2-for-3 with a run and RBI-triple to lead the Lakers.

Adding one hit each were Jenna Drewes, Ally Mogard, Emma Poegel, Mix and Avery Lewison.

Two players had three hits each for NLS, which outhit the Lakers 12-9, including Jadyn Proehl, who was 3-for-3 with a walk, single, double and triple.

•  During the 15-0 loss to Morris, Mataya Mix took the loss with relief help from Norah VanZee.  The Lakers trailed 3-0 through two innings before the Tigers scored 12 runs in the third to end the game after 3 1/2 innings due to the 15-run rule.  Avery Lewison and Ella Roering had the only hits for the Lakers and Roering also had the only walk for her team.

Osakis 6, at Waska 4

Osakis 0 2 1 0 3 0 0 — 6 11 4

Waska (6-14) 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 — 4 5 6

HITTING:  WASKA-Mataya Mix 2-for-2; Ally Mogard 1-for-4, double, run; Avery Lewison 1-for-3, HR, runs, RBI; Jenna Drewes 1-for-4, 3 RBI, sb; Xi Li 0-for-1, run; Haillie Schulz 0-for-2, run, bb, sb . . . OSAKIS-N/A

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  WASKA-Mataya Mix (L, 4-8)  6-11-6-3-4-5; Norah VanZee 1-0-0-0-1-0 . . OSAKIS-N/A

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Minnewaska 6, NLS 5

Waska (7-15) 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 — 6 9 2

NLS 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 — 5 12 2

HITTING:  WASKA-Haillie Schulz 2-for-3, run, 2 sb; Eliana Marthaler 2-for-3, run, RBI, triple; Jenna Drewes 1-for-4, run, sb; Ally Mogard 1-for-4, run, RBI, triple; Emma Poegel 1-for-4, run, double; Mataya Mix 1-for-2; Avery Lewison 1-for-2, double; Carly Jergenson 0-for-3, run, RBI, sb . . . NLS-Jadyn Proehl 3-for-3, run, 2 RBI, bb, double, triple; Maren Munsch 3-for-3

PITCHING:  (ip-h-r-er-bb-so):  WASKA-Mataya Mix (W, 5-8)  3-6-4-2-0-0; Norah VanZee (Sv) 4-6-1-1-3 . . . NLS-Ruter (L)  7-9-6-5-0-7