Eagles top

nemesis

Cougars

in playoffs

By ANDY ROGERS

Journal Sports Editor

NORTH MANKATO -- The New Ulm Eagles softball team did something they haven't done in years.

They defeated Mankato East.

"It's fantastic," Eagles coach Jim Pearson said. "They've been our nemesis over the years. We're fortunate to win tonight. The kids played extremely well."

After defeating Orono 3-2 in the second round of the Section 2-3A softball tournament, the Eagles defeated No. 1 seed Mankato East 4-2 to advance.

"I think we played as hard as we could tonight," Pearson said. "The kids showed they can play with the teams ranked higher than us."

In the top of the eighth inning against Mankato East, New Ulm's Allison Boddy hit a two-RBI double to take a 4-2 lead.

"They've always been close games," Boddy said. "We've been looking forward to this game for a long time."

With one out in the eighth and the game tied 2-all, Rachel Kitzberger doubled and Sheena Stueber got to first with a single. With two out, it looked like East pitcher Kim Westerndorf was going to intentionally walk Boddy, who already had a triple in the game. With two balls and a strike, Boddy hit an outside pitch over the centerfielder's head scoring Kitzberger and Stueber.

"I think they were trying to intentional pass her," Pearson said. "I wonder if they didn't slip up there. I know (Boddy) thought the 2-1 was pretty close so she wondered if they weren't going to come back with it -- we're always ready."

Boddy, a senior, wasn't content with a walk.

"I was glad that I was up there -- I had success with (Westerndorf) early in the game," Boddy said.

After she hit the double, Boddy thought "we've lost to these guys two years in the playoffs -- it's not going to happen this year."

Jocelyn Janni grabbed the wins for the Eagles in both the East and Orono games. She relieved Cassie Schultz in the fourth inning of the East game. Janni struck out five, walked none, allowed three hits and hit a batter.

East loaded the bases with two out in the seventh inning. Janni gave up two hits and hit a batter to load the bases, but she got out of the inning with an off-speed pitch that Westerndorf swung on and missed.

Cassie Schultz started the East game for the Eagles. She went three innings, walked two, struck out six, and allowed two runs -- one earned.

"We (change pitchers) a lot of times at this point of the season," Pearson said. "We wanted a change to give the other team a different look."

The fourth-seeded Eagles will face No. 2 seed Prior Lake at 5 p.m. Thursday at Caswell Park in North Mankato. Prior Lake defeated No. 3 seed Mankato West 5-2 to advance.

The winner will face the team that comes out of the losers' bracket at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The loser will join the losers' bracket for a 5 p.m game Tuesday.

"We in the driver's seat now," Boddy said. "(East) is the best team we've seen all year -- this is our year."

In the first game, the Eagles defeated Orono 3-2. Janni, who pitched a complete game, had a perfect game until she walked Orono's Sara Stieve in the sixth. Janni had 11 strike outs, allowed one walk, one hit, and she had one error in the field.

"My pitches were all working tonight," Janni said. "My changeup was working well."

Janni attributes her success to her teammates.

"Our catcher (Nikki Williams) called a pretty good game," Janni said. "The defense really helped out to as far as getting the bumps down and fielding the balls that were hit."

The Eagles scored two runs in the first inning, one off an error and Brittany Gorres had an RBI bunt. In the third, after hitting a ground-rule double, Boddy scored off another Orono error.

Things got a little too close in the last inning for the Eagles because of two costly errors. Janni bobbled a ground ball, and Orono's Jodi Schmict hit a double -- Orono's only hit one. A costly error by Jakie Bode in right field sent in two runs.

"I thought we'd be OK," Pearson said. " There was only a runner on first with two outs. I've been doing this too long to get worried. I knew we'd be fine."

A strike out and groundout sealed the win for New Ulm.

Game 1

Orono 000 000 2 -- 2 1 3

New Ulm High 201 000 x -- 3 3 2

Game 2

New Ulm High 000 200 02 -- 4 5 1

Mankato East 020 000 00 -- 2 4 1