Hermantown Loses Doubleheader To Central

Wes Vork-NSO

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May 3

Kerry Rodd-NSO

DULUTH – The Much anticipated matchup between two of the area’s best pitchers, sophmores Sarah Hendrickson of Central and Katie Thun of Hermantown
kind of took place, but
not really.

Thun left game one
early and Hendrickson
did not start
game two of the doubleheader.

In the first game, Thun left the mound in the first inning. After a rough start in which the Trojans scored three runs without the ball leaving the infield due to walks, wild pitches and misplayed balls, Thun hurt her finger covering home plate and didn’t pitch the remainder of that game. Hendrickson also left the game in the seventh inning after the Hawks had loaded the bases.

In game two Nikki Logergren started the game for Central before giving way to Hendrickson in the third inning while Thun pitched six innings for the Hawks.

Even though Hermantown was swept, the rebuilding process continued to take steps forward for the
Hawks after another run to the state tournament last year. The Hawks typically started six seniors and three freshman on that state runner-up team including three first team all-state players Megan Mullen, Julia Gilbert, and Ellen Folman. On Thursday that rebuilding
process showed there is still a little work to do as the youthful Hawks battled hard, but suffered their first losses of the year in a double header to Duluth Central 7-5 and 6-4.

In the 7-5 loss to Central, the Hawks scored all five of their runs in the seventh inning by bashing out seven hits before leaving the bases loaded to end the game. Macy Francisco, Celine Francisco, Sarah Stansfield, Ashley Irwin and Mackenzie Herzig all had two hits for Hermantown in the loss.

The 6-4 loss saw Celine Francisco lead the hitting attack for Hermantown with three hits, but the Trojans rode the strong pitching arm of Sarah Hendrickson to the win. Hendrickson finished with a five-hitter in relief of Logergren, while Katie Thun took the loss on the mound for the Hawks after allowing five hits in six innings of work.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at Kerry@northlandsportsonline.com