Softball: Osakis girls in 5A-West finals

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The Osakis softball team fared better this time around against Maple Lake starting pitcher Ashley Kempenich.

Unfortunately for the Silverstreaks, the outcome was still the same. Kempenich struck out 16 the last time these two teams met during the regular season. Osakis got to her for four runs in the Subsection South 5A finals last Thursday night. The Irish just had a little more in a 10-4 win.

“We couldn’t make our own breaks today,” head coach John Stigman said. “We made a couple mistakes but kept trying to battle back. Every time we started to get some momentum to turn the game, the breaks went the other way.”

The Silverstreaks could not hold down the Irish offense. Maple Lake scored in every inning, including lone runs in the first and second inning to take an early lead. Osakis answered back with one in the top of the third, but the Irish had an answer for every Silverstreak run. They came back with two more in the third to extend their lead to three runs.

Kelsey Proell and Sabrina Zimmel each had two hits and an RBI to lead the Osakis offense. Mercedes Klimek added a double and an RBI.

Zimmel took the loss on the mound in five innings of work. She allowed eight runs, four earned, on three hits and four walks. Five errors by the Osakis defense made things more difficult on her, as well. That proved to be too much to overcome as the Silverstreaks fell to the losers’ bracket, where they will try to fight their way through for another shot at the section finals.

“When you play good teams at this stage in the year, you need to minimize mistakes and get a few breaks,” Stigman said. “That didn’t happen today. We are still alive yet, and we are going to keep battling to get a chance to play them again.”

Osakis will take on Ogilvie tonight, Tuesday, after the Lions fell to Barnum 8-0 on Thursday night. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. at Whitney Park in St. Cloud.

The Lions come into the contest with an 8-14 record, while the Silverstreaks sit at 18-3.

GAME SUMMARY

OSAKIS 001 101 1 – 4 5 5

MAPLE LAKE 112 132 X – 10 6 2

OSAKIS PITCHING – Sabrina Zimmel – (L) 5IP, 3H, 8R, 4ER, 4BB, 1SO; Kiera Zimmel – 1IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 0BB, 1SO

OSAKIS HITTING – Kelsey Proell – 2-4, 1 run, RBI; Kayla Maus – 1 run; S. Zimmel – 2-2, RBI, 2B, BB; Mercedes Klimek – 1-3, RBI, 2B; Hailey Rajdl – 1-2, 1 run; K. Zimmel – BB, 1 run; Brianne Giesler - BB

Osakis 5, ACGC 0

The Osakis softball team has played like a team deserving of the No. 7 ranking it received in the latest Class A state polls released on May 11 through the first two games of the Section 5A playoffs.

The Silverstreaks’ latest victory came on the back of Sabrina Zimmel, who pitched almost flawless ball to help her team to a 5-0 win over Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City at Minnewaska on Tuesday night.

Zimmel stymied the Falcons’ lineup for seven innings, allowing just one hit, while striking out 10.

Her offense got her some support in the third inning when Tonya Hetland and Kelsey Proell scored to make it a 2-0 game. The Silverstreaks added three insurance runs through the fifth and sixth innings as they advanced to set up a rematch with Maple Lake in the subsection final. That game took place last night, Thursday, at Minnewaska.

Klimek was perfect at the plate with three hits, including two doubles. Proell and Zimmel combined to go 3-for-6 with four RBIs.

The win was the 18th of the season for the Silverstreaks as they moved to 18-2.

GAME SUMMARY

ACGC 000 000 0 – 0 1 3

OSAKIS 002 012 X – 5 8 0

OSAKIS PITCHING – Sabrina Zimmel – (W) 7IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 4BB, 10SO

OSAKIS HITTING – Britteny Wolterstorff – 1-3; Tonya Hetland – 1 run; Kelsey Proell – 2-3, 2 RBI, 1 run, 3B; S. Zimmel – 1-3, 1 run; Mercedes Klimek – 3-3, 1 run, 2 2B; Kiera Zimmel – 1-3, 2 RBI; Brianne Giesler – BB, 1 run

Tags: osakis sports, area sports, sports, softball, section, 5a, west