Central, Hermantown Advance In 7AA Softball

Wes Vork-NSO

Click Here For Additional Hermantown vs Central Photos

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Additional Hermantown vs Denfeld Photos

June 1

Kerry Rodd-NSO

CLOQUET – When the Section 7AA softball tournament opened its Final Four phase there were few people who believed that Duluth Central would be one of the top teams left standing. Entering the tournament, the Trojans came in as a lower seed, but they have caught fire and on Tuesday they knocked off defending state champion Hermantown 3-2 to advance to the sectional championship game. Meanwhile, Hermantown showed the heart of a champion and rebounded to win two games following their loss and they will face Central in a dramatic showdown on Thursday.

A two-run fifth inning was a big key for the Trojans in their opening game win over Hermantown. Central rallied for a pair of runs on three Hawks errors. The winning run was scored in the sixth inning on back-to-back doubles on balls hit to nearly the exact spot in deep center by pitcher Sarah Hendrickson and Kylie Murray.

The other first round game was a back-and-forth affair that saw Greenway take a 7-3 lead on Duluth Denfeld, before the Hunters rallied for six runs in the fifth inning and five runs in the sixth inning to come away with a 14-7 victory. Katilyn Bagley came on in relief of Nikki Logergren to pitch her team to the victory.

Second round action saw the winners of game one, Denfeld and Central, square off and the losers of game one, Hermantown and Greenway, play. Central used a shut-down pitching performance by Hendrickson to take a 4-0 win over the Hunters. Hendrickson allowed just one hit in the win. Meanwhile, the Hawks rebounded to take a 6-0 win to eliminate Greenway as Megan Mullen bounced back to pitch a no-hitter after taking the loss in the opening game against Central.

The third round pitted Hermantown against Denfeld in an elimination game that saw Mullen toss a five-hitter and striking out 12 in pitching her team to a 4-0 win. Julia Gilbert pounded out three hits for the Hawks and Steph Thun doubled in the win.

Hermantown’s win puts them back in the double-elimination championship again. Last year, the Hawks had to come out of the loser’s bracket to win the tournament and eventually won the State Class AA tourney in Mankato. The Hawks are hoping for more of the same this season.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com