Hawks To Defend State Title

Wes Vork-NSO

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June 3

Kerry Rodd-NSO

CLOQUET – The talk among fans prior to the Section 7AA Girls Softball championship round of games between Hermantown and Duluth Central centered on the importance of Hermantown getting a good start in the first game of the potential doubleheader. If the Hawks managed a good start and put the Trojans on their heels, the feeling was that Hermantown would then rebound to win yet another sectional championship. That is exactly what happened as the Hawks beat Central 8-0 and 3-1 on Thursday afternoon at Braun Park in Cloquet.

Coming into the afternoon the Hawks had to win back-to-back games to win the section championship. Why? Because on Tuesday Central upset the Hawks 3-2 in the first game of the double elimination round sending Hermantown into the loser’s bracket where they rebounded with wins over Greenway and Denfeld.

The message was sent early by Hermantown when Julia Gilbert led off the top of the first with a bunt base hit and then stole second base. With Gilbert on second, Rudi Summers was hit by a pitch and then Megan Mullen ripped a double down the left field line allowing two runs to score for Hermantown. Ellen Follman followed Mullen with a single to score a run and then it was Shawna Johnson and Steph Thun coming up with base hits to score two more runs. The Hawks led 5-0 after the top of one inning of play.

Once the Hawks went out to play defense the game rested on the strong right arm of Mullen, who did her job by allowing only three hits while striking out nine in picking up the win.

Hermantown added single tallies in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings to win the game 8-0 as Gilbert finished with four stolen bases and two runs scored on three hits.

While Mullen was doing her job, Central pitcher Sarah Hendrickson, who is just a freshman, struggled during the first inning and was rested after the second inning.
Kylie Murray came in for Hendrickson and did a nice job of quieting down the Hawk offensive attack.

In game two it looked like the Trojans would draw first blood when they put runners on second and third in the first inning with one out. However, Mullen struck out Molly Jadzewski and then got Hendrickson to hit a weak dribbler to second for the final out of the inning.

The game stood scoreless until the fourth inning when Gilbert led off the bottom of the fourth with a bunt base hit and stole second on the first pitch. That was followed by another bunt for a hit by Summers, putting runners on first and third. On the first pitch to Mullen it was Summers going to second as the Central defense allowed her to move ahead without a throw. Mullen then laced a two-strike single to right field, scoring both Gilbert and Summers and making it 2-0 for Hermantown.

In the bottom of the fifth inning Sarah Stansfield blooped a pinch hit single to right field. Stansfield was then lifted for a pinch runner as McKenzie Herzig re-entered the game, and that was followed by a Gilbert pop-out to third baseman Rachel Kerr. Summers then sacrifice bunted Herzig to second and Mullen followed with a base hit to left field scoring the run making it 3-0 for the Hawks.

Trailing 3-0 and entering the top of the seventh, the Trojans got a leadoff homer to right centerfield by Jadzewski, cutting the gap to 3-1. Mullen then got Hendrickson on a soft grounder to first baseman Summers for the first out. Kylie Murray bounced a base hit for the second hit of the inning.
However, Carissa Davis then lined a shot at
Olivia Carlson,
who gloved it and threw back to first base to double up a pinch runner who had come in for Murray ending the game.

Mullen finished with a five-hitter and nine strike outs in game two, while Hendrickson had a strong game by giving up five hits with five strike outs. Mullen also accounted for all her teams runs with three RBIs in the game.

This marks the 17th time the Hawks have advanced to the state tournament and also their third march to Mankato in a row. Last year, the Hawks won the Class AA tournament with Mullen leading the way.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com