Eagles fall in section championshipPearson era ends with loss to East

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NORTH MANKATO -- After coaching for 26 years, the Jim Pearson coaching era came to a close as New Ulm lost 5-0 to Mankato East in the Section 2AAA championship game. The Eagles end their season at 16-9.

Pearson said that it will be tough not sitting along the third base line.

"It's been bittersweet, because you get to watch the kids for years coming through," Pearson said. "Working with the kids in New Ulm for 26 years has been wonderful."

Pearson also said his team reached several of the the goals it set before the year.

"Every year, we have goals that we set," Pearson said. "This year, we set a goal to win the conference, and two, we wanted to play in the region final game. We were fortunate to get to the region final. It shows how hard this group of girls worked."

In the first game, the Eagles defeated Mankato West 3-1 to advance to the championship game. Jocelyn Janni got the win, outdueling Cassie Huettl. Janni allowed six hits and struck out four.

"I think it brought up our confidence that we can beat them, and it was just real exciting," New Ulm's Jessica Sperling said.

The Eagles went up 1-0 in the first when Angie Seifert singled to left, scoring Amy Waldner.

Both teams were tied at 1 apiece until the Eagles scored a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Ashley Hoffmann had a bunt single and then stole second and third.

Sperling then delivered a single that scored Hoffmann, giving the Eagles a 2-1 lead. Martha Beatty then hit a hard ground ball to second, which was bobbled, allowing Waldner to score the team's third run.

The New Ulm defense committed only two errors.

"As long as we can hold them and they don't score too many runs on us, then we'll stay up," Sperling said.

Against East, the Eagles had to deal with a dominant pitching performance by East's Kim Westendorf. Westendorf retired 17 consecutive Eagle batters after allowing two hits in the first inning.

To New Ulm's credit, the Eagles put the ball in play, but East backed their ace with solid defense.

"One thing we needed to do was get our bats on her," Beatty said. "We hit the ball, but we hit it right to them and they made the plays. You gotta hit it in the holes."

Mankato East made its statement when the Cougars scored three runs in the bottom of the first. New Ulm committed two errors in the inning, enabling Brittany Mitchell, Rachel Osdoba, and Westendorf to cross the plate in their half of the inning.

"The game plan was to make no errors, because the last couple of times we played 'em, their runs were on errors,"

East scored another run in the second inning after Angie Dickmeyer walked and scored on a Mitchell sac fly.

Whitney Olson scored East's fifth run in the third inning. Despite the loss, the Eagles were proud of their season.

"The season was great," Beatty said. "Everyone enjoyed playing with each other and the chemistry of the team was great. It was just fun playing with everyone."

Pearson was also happy about his teams performance over the course of the year.

"Getting to the state tournament is kinda like the carrot at the end of the rope," Pearson said. "We like to reward the girls and show off the kids at the state tournament. I've been fortunate enough to do that five times here."