Softball: Young Osakis team seeing growth as season goes on

The Osakis softball team played a couple of doubleheaders on Thursday, May 4, and Friday, May 5, against recently against tough teams in Browerville and Upsala.

Things didn’t go Osakis’ as on Thursday, Browerville won game one, 8-1, and game two, 15-5, and Upsala, on Friday, won game one, 13-1, and game two, 5-3.

“We continue to improve each game we play,” Osakis head coach John Stigman said. “Our, especially as our level of competition increases. Browerville and Upsala are both really good teams who do a lot of things very well. We were competitive with them in both double headers, but we continue to be plagued by one bad inning, something common with young teams learning.”

Stigman said he’s seen growth as the season has gone on.

“Where we are now and where we were two weeks ago are completely different,” Stigman said. “As our pitchers throw more strikes and our defense gets more comfortable, our level of competitive play has increased. It has not translated into wins yet, but the product on the field is much improved. We have three starters back from last year, which means most of our skill positions are rookies. They are learning. Our pitching staff is new, not one pitcher threw an inning for us last year. So we are learning on the fly in the circle and developing depth at the same time. We knew going into the season this would be a build, and we are doing that. I have to give all the credit to these girls, they are continuing to work and improve despite the results. We will continue to get better.”

Osakis played a Monday game against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle at 2:30 p.m.

Osakis vs. Browerville -

Game one - 

Osakis - 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 1 7 2

Browerville - 3 1 1 0 1 2 X - 8 11 1

OSAKIS OFFENSE - Lelia Sanford - 2-4; Charlee Thieschafer - 1-4; Kyla Thole - 2-4; Maggie Dirkes - 1-3, BB; Kylee Lebrun - 1-3, R

OSAKIS PITCHING - Kylee Lebrun - 6 IP, 11 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 5 BB, 4 SO

Game two - 

Browerville - 2 2 0 2 9 - 15 16 0 

Osakis - 0 0 4 0 1 - 5 11 2 

OSAKIS OFFENSE - Lelia Sanford - 1-3, R, 2 RBI; Kylee Lebrun - 1-2, R; Kyla Thole - 1-2, RBI; Emma Drum - 1-1, R; Harley Tulio - 1-1; Charlee Thieschafer - 3-3, 2 RBI; Josee Hartshorn - 1-3; Jaclyn Dietrich - 1-2, R; Grace Rousslang - 1-2, R

OSAKIS PITCHING - Brooklyn Dropik - 4.1 IP, 12 H, 11 R, 9 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO; Zoie Wright - 0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB

Osakis vs. Upsala -

Game one - 

Upsala - 2 0 0 0 1 0 10 - 13 8 3

Osakis - 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 3 5

OSAKIS OFFENSE - Zoie Wright - 2-3, BB; Harley Tulio - 0-0, BB; Madison Neumann - 0-1, BB; Joy Kral - 1-1; Haylee Anderson - 0-0 BB

Game two - 

Osakis - 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 - 3 5 0

Upsala - 3 0 0 0 2 0 X - 5 7 1

OSAKIS OFFENSE - Lelia Sanford - 1-3; Maggie Dirkes - 1-2, BB; Kyla Thole - 2-3, RBI; Joy Kral - 1-1, 2 RBI; Brooklyn Dropik - 0-0, 2 R

OSAKIS PITCHING - Kylee Lebrun - 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO