St. Peter quiets Pinstripes' bats in championship

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The New Ulm Pinstripes 16-Under softball team ran into a team that hit the ball a little harder than what they've seen in the tournament and lost 11-3 to St. Peter in the championship game of the Windmill Classic at North Park 3.

St. Peter collected 11 hits and took advantage of three New Ulm errors in the five-inning game.

Sometimes on these harder hits, you gotta come up and get the ball," New Ulm coach Ed Bode said. "They haven't seen the real clean hits through the infield. You could see that today. They had to step it up to that notch -- they're getting there."

Amber Portner took the loss as she pitched all five innings. She struck out one and walked five.

Bode felt it may have been fatigue that finally got the best of the Pinstripes.

"I thought that we were a little weak to play the game today," he said. "The team spirit wasn't quite there. They were really up for that second game [against the New Ulm Cardinals in which they won 11-10] and we just didn't bring it on to this game."

The Pinstripes took the early lead after Courtney Jones singled and stole second in the bottom of the first inning.

Amanda Bode's double scored Jones to make it 1-0. St. Peter managed to tie it in the top of the second after Casie Hansen scored on a passed ball.

St. Peter then scored four runs in the third inning. Two singles and a triple ignited the St. Peter offense as it built a 5-1 lead.

However, New Ulm wasn't done just yet as Bode and Jessica Sperling had consecutive two-out singles. Bode stole third and scored when St. Peter catcher Hansen threw the ball into left, also allowing Sperling to take second.

Sperling had the same idea and stole third, with the exact same result happening as another Hansen throw sailed into left to make it 5-3 St. Peter.

St. Peter scored one more in the fourth and then tacked on five runs in the fifth to take the eight-run lead. Megan Conlon and Brittney Borgstahl had consecutive RBIs and Ashley Weber singled to drive in two more runs to give St. Peter the 11-3 cushion.

"We knew they had [Casie] Hansen and we've seen her before, so we know she's a good hitter," Bode said. "St. Peter played a good game. They had some nice hits. My hats are off to St. Peter."

The Pinstripes and the Cardinals play each other at 6 p.m. Thursday at Harman Park.

Other games in the "A" Bracket Sunday were:

NEW ULM PINSTRIPES 3, BLUE MOUND LEGION 0

The Pinstripes began their day with a 3-0 win over a scrappy Blue Mound Legion squad, with Amanda Bode going the distance and scattering four hits while striking out two and walking one.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth, when the Pinstripes finally got to Blue Mound Legion pitcher Jill Esse. Sperling led off the inning with an infield hit, stole second and took third on a dropped third strike to Courtney Jones. Sperling then scored on a double to right by Brittany Sturm. Sturm came home on a single to right by Stephanie Wieland, opening up a 2-0 Pinstripe lead.

New Ulm got its third run in the next inning when Cihak led off with a walk. She promptly went to steal second, but no one was covering the bag. Cihak ended up at third when the ball ended up in center. She then came home on a grounder by Dane Budahn for the final run of the contest.

Blue Mound Legion never posed a serious threat offensively, getting runners on base in just the second and seventh innings, with no runner making it past second. The Pinstripes also helped their cause by playing tough defense and playing error-free.

NEW ULM CARDINALS 5, WASECA 3

The Cardinals won the 11 a.m. game at North Field 3 after losing twice to Waseca earlier in the year.

Julie Seifert was the winning pitcher and Nikki Krebs pitched in relief for the Cardinals. The win moved the Cardinals to the semifinals, where they lost 11-10 to the Pinstripes.

THIRD PLACE GAME

NEW ULM CARDINALS 4, JACKSON 0

At North Field 2, Ciarra Steinhauser pitched five innings to earn the win and Seifert came in to relieve her. Alicia Brush led the Cardinal attack with three hits while Seifert and Nikki Fischer each picked up two hits.