Huskies win three straight to close regular season
Owatonna’s Keeliana Doran gives a high-five after scoring for the Huskies. Doran scored two runs and added an RBI against Northfield. Staff photo by Johnnie Phillips
Owatonna softball was busy with three games in as many days last week, but the Huskies still managed to close out the regular season strong by going 3-0.
The wins came over New Prague, Northfield and Albert Lea, with the win over the Raiders being the team’s biggest of the season on a massive night for the program.
Northfield entered the game ranked as the No. 7 team in the Class AAA standings, but were no match for the Huskies in 12-4 game that belonged to Owatonna on its Senior Night.
“It was great. Northfield had been playing really well all season. They came in and got a run right away in the first inning, but we bounced back, took that lead and never let go… We hit the ball well, Lilly [Trager] pitched well in the circle and our defense was making plays. It was good to see the energy and get the win on Senior Night,” said Owatonna Head Coach Jeremy Moran.
After falling behind 1-0 after the first, Owatonna pounced on Northfield with three runs in the bottom of the second.
The rally was sparked by some chain hitting from the middle and end of the Huskies’ lineup before leadoff hitter Kendra Bogen made the Raiders pay with her first of two RBI doubles.
Northfield responded with a run in the top of the third, but Trager’s pitching kept the Raiders’ offense at bay and limited true scoring opportunities.
According to Trager, pitching against Northfield carried a little more importance to her than a normal Big Nine Conference game.
“A lot of these girls that we were playing are actually on my summer team,” said Trager. “It was really fun to see them and play against them.”
Trager’s big day in the circle was backed by some strong hitting from her team.
After leading 3-2 through the top of the third, Owatonna turned up the pressure by scoring multiple runs in each of the next three innings.
The Huskies scored twice in both the third and fourth innings to lead 7-2 before the Raiders scored twice in the top of the fifth to trail by three.
However, Owatonna put the game out of reach by crossing home plate five times in the fifth to go up 12-4.
The win was a critical bargaining chip in Owatonna’s back pocket during the playoff seeding process.
Making matters even better for Owatonna was the fact it earned a 14-12 win over New Prague and finished its regular season with a 3-1 result over Albert Lea.
The Huskies’ three-game winning streak moved the team’s regular season record to 12-8 overall and 9-6 in the conference.
Owatonna was given the No. 5 seed and traveled to No. 4 Rochester Century for the opening round of the Section 1AAAA tournament on Tuesday, May 20.
Stats and results from the game were not available at the time of print.
|
Team |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
7th |
Final |
|
Northfield |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
Owatonna |
0 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
Player Stats
vs. Northfield
H R RBI
Bogen 3 2 2
Smith 2 2 1
L. Nelson 3 1 0
Trager 1 0 2
Roush 1 1 1
Doran 0 2 1
P. Hodgman 0 2 0
Fisher 1 0 0
H. Butler 0 1 0
K. Butler 0 1 0
IP H R K BB
Trager 7 8 4 5 3
