The Littlefork-Big Falls softball team was able to win once, but not twice, in Thursday’s matchup against Cherry for the Section 7A championship at Cohasset.
The Vikings, who had lost Tuesday to the Tigers in the double-elimination tournament, picked up an 8-2 victory over Cherry in the first game Thursday to force another winner-take-all contest.
“The key (in the first game) was we came out and hit the ball hard,” said L-BF head coach Mike Imhof. “We chased their (starting pitcher) out in the second inning, because we were getting bats on the ball.”
Tigers starting pitcher Kacey Herring made an early exit in the first game when she was replaced by Joely Roberts.
The Vikings scored the game’s first seven runs capped off with a two-run homer in the top of the fourth by DyAna Imhof. Cherry got on the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the fourth and plated another run in the fifth inning, before L-BF added an insurance run in the top of the seventh.
Brooke Millerbernd pitched all seven innings to record the victory for the Vikings. However, the hot, sunny weather began to take its toll on her when she pitched the second game.
“Brooke was pooped, but she gave it her all,” Mike Imhof said.
L-BF couldn’t generate a run or a hit against Herring in the second game and ended up losing to the Tigers, 12-0, in five innings.
“We didn’t hit the ball,” Mike Imhof said. “It wouldn’t have mattered if Brooke would have thrown a 1-0 game. We still would have lost because we just didn’t score.”
The Vikings finish as the Section 7A runner-up for the second year in a row, while Cherry wins its fifth-consecutive section title.
The Tigers advance to the state softball tournament June 5-6 in North Mankato.
