Xplosion Finish Tournament Run 5th In The Nation

Aug 8

Wes Vork-NSO

The Cloquet based Minnesota XPlosion U-18 girls softball team rallied for a strong finish and ended up taking 5th place in the ASA Northern Nationals Softball Tournament last weekend in Rochester, Minnesota.

“I am so proud of the way this team came together,” mentioned head coach Steve Jezierski. “They had an amazing run on Saturday and I am extremely proud of them, they just ran out of gas.”

The XPlosion ended the weekend by winning five games including three wins in four games on Saturday during which time Molly Johnsen of Floodwood threw 20 consecutive innings of scoreless softball.

During the eight games of the tournament the XPlosion pounded out 78 hits and were led by Megan Nelson of Carlton who had 12-hits, followed by Kelly Carlson of Cloquet with 10 hits. Johnsen, Vicky Fossland of Virginia and a pair of Cloquet players Lizz Jezierski and Kayla Masessa each had nine hits in the tournament.

The XPlosion notched a 5-3 record including a 6-0 win on Saturday when Johnsen pitched a perfect game through six innings before giving up a leadoff hit in the seventh inning.

On Sunday the XPlosion entered play, along with Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, as the two lone Minnesota representatives in the large field of teams. The XPlosion were eventually eliminated by the West Fargo Impact which ended up as the runner-up in the tournament.

Players included; Sasha Fjeren of Two Harbors, Vicky Fossland of Virginia, Molly Johnsen and Brea Vance of Floodwood, Megan Nelson of Carlton, Andrea Youngberg of Moose Lake, as well as a huge contingent of Cloquet players; Makenzie Korby, Lizz Jezierski, Kelly Carlson, Kayla Masessa, Shania Paulson and Chandler Beaupre of Cloquet.

The XPlosion were coached by; Steve Jezierski, Kerry Rodd, Joel Korby and Mark Johnsen.

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