Borderland sports 2014 in review

The Rainy River Community College softball team qualified for the 2014 NJCAA Division III National Tournament in Rochester after winning the Region 13B Tournament it hosted last May.

Among the state qualifiers on the International Falls girls track and field team, five earned medals at the Class A State Meet.

The Littlefork-Big Falls girls softball team came close to qualifying for state after finishing runner-up at the Section 7A Tournament for the second year in a row.

L-BF's baseball team had a Cinderella postseason of sorts as a No. 7 seed by winning four tournament games in a row before the Vikings were eliminated in Section 7A.

The Journal's top-five sports stories for 2014 include:

1. Falls Legion baseball team wins district title, advances to state

After falling behind by three runs July 27, the International Falls Legion baseball team rallied for seven runs in the fourth inning and defeated Two Harbors, 9-3, to win the Division II District Eight championship in Ely.

“It was kind of a good thing to see how we were going to react to playing from behind a little bit,” said Falls Legion head coach Eric Walls. “It's not a bad thing for Ben (Humbert) to give up a few hits, because we're going to face some tough teams going forward (in the state tournament), but we sure responded nice.”

Humbert, who also signed a letter of intent in 2014 to play Division I baseball at the University of Minnesota, recorded the complete-game pitching victory for the Post 66 Broncos, allowing three runs on six hits with two walks while striking out 12.

Two Harbors picked up all three of its runs in the top of the third when Kyle Omtvedt walked and scored, Luke Small singled and scored and Alex Lemke reached base on an error and scored.

The Falls scored its first run in the bottom of the fourth after Gunnar Anderson hit an infield single, Humbert walked and Jackson Vollom doubled to drive in Anderson.

The Falls had a string of six consecutive batters reach base safely as Two Harbors' starting pitcher, Omtvedt, was replaced by Kyler Kinn, who lasted two-thirds of an inning before Small took the mound to get the final out.

The Post 66 Broncos finished the fourth inning with seven runs on six hits as 12 batters went to the plate.

The Falls added two more runs in the six inning when Anderson recorded his fourth hit of the game with a two-run homer off of Small.

The Post 66 Broncos, who went undefeated at 4-0 in the double-elimination district tournament, advanced to the Division II State Tournament held Aug. 1-3 in Luverne, where they went 1-2 in three games, losing to St. James, 1-0, defeating La Crescent, 8-4, and then losing to Osakis, 6-2.

The Falls ended the season with an overall record of 24-7.

2. RRCC softball team wins region title, advances to nationals

The top-seeded Rainy River Community College softball team closed out the four-team, double-elimination region tournament it hosted in May with a perfect 3-0 record after winning the title game by shutting out No. 2-seeded Mesabi Range, 4-0, in Littlefork.

“Mesabi's a good team, and I know they would come out and play hard,” said RRCC head coach Dieter Humbert, who was named the Region 13B Coach of the Year.

The Voyageurs got on the scoreboard in the first inning when shortstop Sam Cantu hit the first of her two solo home runs off of Mesabi Range starting pitcher Shania Novak.

“I just went up there to hit base hits...,” Cantu said. “I just pushed through the ball the way I was taught – just find the middle of the ball and push right through it.”

Novak, who recorded the loss, left the pitching circle with two outs in the bottom of the second after RRCC second baseman Andrea Barylski doubled to place runners on second and third. Lady Norse reliever Kendra Dallmann then got outfielder Rachel Clark to fly out to the infield to end the inning.

Cantu led off the fifth inning with a solo home run off of Dallmann. RRCC pitcher Oashaja Dobie then came to the plate and singled, reached second base on a fielder's choice and scored on a single by Alexis Fancy to give the Voyageurs a 3-0 lead.

RRCC plated its final run in the bottom of the sixth when Barylski reached first on an infield hit, stole second base, advanced to third on a wild pitch by Dallmann and scored on a sacrifice fly by Clark.

Of the Voyageurs' 12 hits, Cantu had three of them by also adding a single. Fancy and Barylski had two hits apiece.

Dobie allowed only two hits with a hit batter while striking out 13 over seven innings to record the complete-game shutout victory. She picked up all three pitching victories for RRCC and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

At the national tournament, the Voyageurs finished sixth after winning only one of four games they played and closed out the season 30-9.

3. Five Bronco girls medal at state track meet

The International Falls girls track and field team scored 14 points to tie for 23rd place when the Broncos earned five medals at the 2014 State Class A Meet held June 6-7 at Hamline University in St. Paul.

Falls' Breanna Shofner had the team's best finish in the finals when she closed out her high school track and field career finishing fifth in the 200-meter dash (26.35 seconds).

“I'm really excited to get fifth,” said Shofner, a state qualifier for the fourth year in a row. “It was my best finish ever at state.”

Shofner's preliminary time of 25.8 in the heats was the fourth-fastest overall and also set a new Falls High School record, based on fully automatic timing.

The Broncos picked up two medals in the shot put with Savanah Olson placing seventh at 37 feet, 1/4 inch, and Emma Gilbert finishing eighth at 36-10.5.

“I was really proud of myself and my teammate, Emma,” said Olson, who exceeded 37 feet on her first throw before having three fouls. “It was really difficult for me, for some reason, to stay in the circle.”

Olson competed at state for the fourth year in a row and third time in the shot put. Gilbert competed in her first state meet ever.

The Falls' Hailey Fentem earned a medal in the 100 hurdles for the second year in a row by placing eighth in 15.8, six-hundredths of a second slower than her preliminary time. Fentem, who also closed out her high school track and field career as a senior, was a three-time state qualifier in the 100 hurdles.

The Broncos' Lexi Erickson earned a state medal when she placed eighth in the 3200 run (11:41.17), besting her section time by 36 seconds and also setting a personal record and becoming Falls High School's third-best girls runner of all time in that event.

“I wasn't as nervous as (in the Section 7A Meet),” said Lexi Erickson, who also noted she was “mentally prepared” to run at state.

4. L-BF softball team runner-up in Section 7A

The Littlefork-Big Falls softball team was able to win once, but not twice, in the May 29 matchup against Cherry for the Section 7A championship at Cohasset.

The Vikings, who had lost two days earlier to the Tigers in the double-elimination tournament, picked up an 8-2 victory over Cherry in the first game May 29 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 finished as the Section 7A runner-up for the second year in a row, while Cherry won its fifth-consecutive section title and advanced to the state softball tournament June 5-6 in North Mankato.

5. L-BF baseball season ends six games into Section 7A tourney

After opening the Section 7A Tournament with four wins in a row, the No. 7-seeded Littlefork-Big Falls baseball team was knocked out of the double-elimination portion of the tournament June 3 in Hibbing.

“It's not the way we wanted it to end, but like I told those guys, 'When you walk away, keep your heads held high for the run that (you) had,'” said Vikings head coach Dan Beste. “It's about the journey, not the destination. We had a lot of fun this last couple of weeks.”

L-BF lost its first tournament game to top-seeded Ely, 13-2, in five innings.

L-BF then played an elimination game against No. 3-seeded South Ridge, which scored 10 runs in the bottom of the first and ended up shutting out the Vikings, 13-0, in five inning.

The Vikings – whose Cinderella tournament run included wins over No. 10-seeded Northeast Range, No. 2-seeded Mesabi East, No. 3-seeded Nashwauk-Keewatin and No. 1-seeded Barnum – ended the season at 10-12.