Carlton Nearly Pulls Out Section Final Win

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June 2

Kerry Rodd-NSO

CLOQUET – The dream of a first-ever state tournament berth for the Carlton Bulldog softball program came to an end when Cherry-Cotton catcher Macey Etter drilled a long base-hit to left field scoring Angel Dahl with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Dahl’s run gave the Tigers a 2-1 walk off win.

Bulldog junior pitcher Megan Bodin gave her team every chance to win the game as she constantly befuddled the Tigers with an array of drop balls, change ups and just nifty pitching on the corners. Behind Bodin was a solid defense that made all the plays and the hopes of that state tournament bid alive.

Carlton gained the upper hand early in the game when Brooke Camps led off the first inning with a bloop base hit to left field. After a strike out, the Bulldogs got a huge lift when Megan Nelson hit a high fast ball off the centerfield fence for a double. With Camps on third and Nelson on first the Bulldogs were able to score on a strike out when Etter, the catcher for the Tigers, couldn’t find the handle on a Sara Sauter pitch that allowed Camps to score. The run gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead that they would hold until the bottom of the third.

Cherry-Cotton tied it on a ground out by Kirstin Lahti with DeAnn Bjerklie on third base. Bjerklie was able to streak home with the tying run. That would be the last run until the bottom of the seventh.

Dahl led off the inning with a hit and found herself on third with nobody out, but it still looked like the fabulous defensive effort by the Bulldogs would get them out of the inning. Bodin was able to induce back-to-back groundouts to third and short. The first grounder found Amanda Eggert at third who looked back Dahl and the second was a grounder to Christine Eggert at short who did the same. With two outs and the Bulldog fans cheering wildly the game would end on the first pitch to Etter who got a pitch up high in the zone and pounded it deep to left field for the win.

Carlton finished with a school best record of 16-3 and played for the Section 7A title for the first time in school history.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com