Thursday's prep sports roundup: Maple Grove softball heads to state again

It took twice as long as they had hoped, but in the end, the right arm of Sydney Smith proved to be too much to overcome.

Maple Grove seized its second consecutive Section 5, 3A softball championship Thursday, beating Spring Lake Park 13-1 in the second game of the day between the two teams. Maple Grove advances to the Class 3A State Tournament for the second year in a row. The Crimson finished fourth in 2013.

A second game was needed because the Panthers shocked the Crimson 2-0 earlier in the afternoon, forcing a winner-take-all final.

Faced with elimination, top-ranked Maple Grove wasted little time in asserting themselves in the final, scoring two runs in each of the first two innings, both on the two-out base hits that eluded them in the first game.

Sarah Michal drove in a pair with triple that kicked up chalk dust as it landed just fair down the right-field-line for a 2-0, first inning lead. In the second, it was Smith, Maple Grove's superb pitcher, driving in two runs with a line-shot single to center.

Spring Lake Park freshman pitcher Halley Jones, who came up with big pitch-after-big pitch and struck out nine while shutting out the Crimson in the first game, began to tire, sparking the Maple Grove bats. Second baseman Taylor Meyer homered to lead off the fourth for a 5-1 lead. One inning later, the Crimson broke the game open with five runs on five hits. The game-clinching blow was a three-run, bases-clearing double by Samantha Sadler, another big two-out hit.

Smith, whose one mistake in the first game resulted in a two-run, first-inning home run by Spring Lake Park's Maddy Wallraff for the only runs of the game, buzzed through the Spring Lake Park lineup. She struck out 11, giving her a two-game total of 27, and scattered five hits.

Spring Lake Park's Kati Thunborg walked slowly out of the Rice Creek Fields toward the parking lot following the loss. Thunborg, clearly tired after 14 straight innings of softball, was satisfied with the season despite its ending.

"We were the third seed, so people expected us to lose," Thunborg said. "But we came here and got a game from them. I'm pretty happy with that."

JIM PAULSEN

Prep Roundup

Baseball

Woodbury 6, Cretin-Derham Hall 5

Nick Yochum went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored to launch the Royals past the Raiders Thursday at Midway Stadium. Teammate Nick McLaughlin also went 3-for-4 and drove in one run.

Softball

Class 3A, Section 2

New Prague 2, Prior Lake 0

"She's just been coming through for us all season," coach Nat Wagner said.

Thursday's Class 3A Section 2 championship game against Prior Lake was no different. Koehnen's bloop single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning broke open a scoreless game and helped New Prague to a 2-0 win and the program's first-ever section title.

"I just tried to treat it like any other game and put the ball in play," said Koehnen, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Freshman Nichole Reed pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing just one hit — a two-out double in the top of the seventh.

BRYCE EVANS

North St. Paul 7, Woodbury 0

North St. Paul's Carli Langevin was 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBI to lead the Polars over the Royals Thursday in North St. Paul. Teammate Mady Strom was 3-for-3 with one RBI and Katelyn Stepaniak was 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI. Haley Schanks was the winning pitcher, striking out eight batters.

Boys Lacrosse

Totino-Grace 4, Roseville 3