Aggressiveness gives T-birds edgeGFW girls get seven steals, take early lead over Knights

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop coach Ed Harkness likes his softball team to be aggressive on the base paths and at the plate.

On Monday, he got both as the Thunderbirds had seven stolen bases and hit the ball hard at the Sleepy Eye St. Mary's defense as GFW won the Tomahawk Conference softball game 5-2.

"We always try to be as aggressive as we can, and we just had some opportunities where they might have just been a little bit slow at it [covering the bases] and just took advantage of it," Harkness said.

Nea Harkness got the win for GFW. She went the distance, allowing six hits and striking out six. She walked one.

"She threw some good pitches at different times," Ed Harkness said. "She made 'em either hit the ball where we wanted to or got the strikeout we needed. But she did a real nice job."

The Thunderbirds got on the board in the top of the first after Nea Harkness singled. She stole second and took third on a passed ball. She later scored on Shannon Murphy's grounder to second.

GFW tacked on two more runs in the top of the third after Tiffany Youngbloom reached on an error by St. Mary's shortstop Jonalyn Cook. Nea Harkness followed with a single and both advanced via stolen base and both later scored to put the Thunderbirds up 3-0.

"We just go out there, and we try and swing the bat the best we can," Ed Harkness said. "The girls have been hitting the ball hard all year long and we wanna keep doing that."

Heide Bruns scored GFW's fourth run in the top of the fourth after walking. Two consecutive sacrifice bunts by the Thunderbirds moved her to third and she scored after Youngbloom reached on another St. Mary's error. The Knights committed four errors.

Bethany Werner scored GFW's fifth run before the Knights got on the board in the bottom of the sixth.

Amanda Helget singled and took second on a passed ball. Whitney Haala reached on an error by GFW shortstop Ashley Vorwerk and Helget scored on a Cook groundout for the first St. Mary's run. Helget went 2-for-3 for the Knights.

Next, Sadie Sabatino doubled to right, allowing Haala to score, and neither team scored for the final 5-2 margin.

"We played as well as we wanted to play," Ed Harkness said. "We got some hits early, and we took advantage of a couple of mistakes that they made, got that early lead."

St. Mary's (9-7, 7-5) is at McLeod West for a doubleheader today.

GFW (7-11, 4-10) hosts Wabasso Thursday.