Despite Great Effort Esko Softball Exits Playoffs

Wes Vork-NSO

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May 26

Dwight Cadwell-NSO’

The Esko Eskomos came within seven outs of upsetting the defending Section 7AA champion, the
Hermantown Hawks. Hermantown came up with three runs in the fifth inning and held on to beat Esko , advancing them to the section championship game on Thursday against Virginia.

The Eskomos were facing the Hawks for the second time Tuesday in the section tournament. Esko and Hermantown met in the opening game of the tournament. Hermantown took an early 1-0 lead and
the score remained that way until the fifth inning when the Hawks scored five runs on four hits and Esko had three errors. That put the first game out of reach for the Eskomos as Hermantown won by a final score of 9-0. Esko could only manage two hits: one by Erin Emanuel and the other by Becca Jensch.

The loss to Hermantown then sent Esko to play the Cloquet Lumberjacks in a game of the “once beaten” teams. Cloquet started strong, but the Eskomos scored three runs in the third inning, four in the fourth and six in the seventh. Kelsey Saralampi was the winning pitcher in the game against Cloquet. She had eight strikeouts, gave up three hits, and six runs, only two of which were earned. Offensively, Esko had 12 hits. Savannah Hansen had three hits. Kortney Lindberg and Emanuel each had two hits for the Eskomos. Both also had two runs batted in.

The win over Cloquet ended the Lumberjacks season. Esko would then once again face Hermantown, who fell to Virginia 3-0. Esko scored first
when Steph Miller
singled to lead off the top of the third inning. She moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Emanuel. Miller moved to third on a pass ball by Ellen Folman of the Hawks and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Kortney Lindberg. The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the fifth inning when a throwing error and three hits gave Hermantown a 3-1 lead. Esko would answer with one run in the top of the sixth inning as Lindberg singled and later scored on a single by Farrah Wirtz. Esko had the tying runner on in the seventh inning but could not get the run across as Hermantown downed Esko for the second time Tuesday afternoon.

Esko finished the season 17-8 overall. Esko will lose five seniors. Erin Emanuel, Kortney Lindberg, Kelsey Saralampi, Farrah Wirtz, and Sarah Krocka will all be graduating and moving on to new endeavors. Northland Sports Online would like to thank these girls for all of their hard work and dedication throughout the years and wish them well!

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com