Knights shut down

Charger defense pulls through for 3-0 win

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- For most of her career, Minnesota Valley Lutheran junior Allie Krenz's job was just to show up to the diamond and play wherever she was needed to fill in.

This season she has finally settled her own place -- behind the plate. Krenz's confidence behind the plate, along with her strong arm, showed Tuesday as she picked off two runners at third in MVL's 3-0 win over Sleepy Eye St. Mary's in Tomahawk Conference softball action.

"They were leading off pretty far and I've got a good arm, so I just rocket-fired and [third baseman Janelle Fischer] was waiting for me," Krenz said.

Jenny Burt was the winning pitcher. She struck out six and allowed four hits in the complete game.

"I pitched okay," Burt said. "I could've done a lot better, I think. But it worked out good. Our defense was awesome today. It was a good back-up."

The Chargers scored the only run Burt would need in the bottom of the second when Janelle Fischer walked and stole second. She moved to third on a ground ball and scored on Angie Meyer's bloop single to center.

MVL went up 2-0 in the bottom of the third after Andrea Ring singled to lead off. She moved to second on a wild pitch and eventually scored on Fischer's grounder to second.

St. Mary's, who stranded a runner in the first three innings, had Nikki Hertling single and advance to second on a wild pitch. She moved to third on grounder to short, but was caught leaning the wrong way and was picked off third to end the inning.

"It's such a relief to know that I have a catcher that can make plays and be there behind me stopping all the balls that I've thrown in the dirt," Burt said.

"She did a very nice job for them," St. Mary's coach Wendy Owens said. "We haven't seen her for a while, so she did a good job today for them."

Burt scored the game's third run after she walked and moved to second on Alissa Michels' single.

Then, with two outs, Katie Ahrensdorft singled to score Burt and advanced to second on the throw home.

In the sixth inning, Cassi Schumacher singled and stole second. She advanced to third on a passed ball, but again Krenz was alert and picked her off to end the inning.

"I think the battery was much more relaxed today than they have been recently," MVL coach Julie Detjen said. "The defense has been nice and they're really getting it into their heads to do the job behind them. Allie is real comfortable with being able to make plays like picking off the runner at third. If you're not confident in the rest of the defense, those plays are not going to happen."

MVL had a chance to extend the lead in the sixth, but St. Mary's brought in Schumacher to get out of a bases-loaded jam.

St. Mary's had two more baserunners in the seventh, but Burt stuck out Ashley Reinarts looking and got Sadie Sabatino on a liner to short to end the game.

"Everybody's feeling really good right now," Krenz said. "I knew we could do it, and we just finally did today."

"We didn't lay bunts down when we needed to and we hit right to them in the air," Owens said. "We made contact with the ball. We went through the lineup and everyone made contact. But some reason we fell apart after the first round through."

St. Mary's (5-5, 5-2) hosts Sleepy Eye Public Thursday. MVL (4-3, 4-3) is at Springfield Thursday.