Already having clinched a berth in the Region 13B Tournament that begins Thursday, the Rainy River Community College softball team lost four out of five road games late last week.
On Friday, the Voyageurs dropped two non-conference games at Hibbing.
Cateline Fafard pitched the opening game for RRCC, which lost 3-2.
Fafard went six innings when she allowed 3 earned runs on 5 hits with 6 strikeouts. RRCC’s defense was error-free for the game.
Of the Voyageurs’ 4 hits, four players each had a single.
Hibbing 10, RRCC 1
Five separate RRCC players singled when Hibbing won game two, 10-1.
Colby Redhead recorded the loss pitching 3 1/3 innings, giving up 6 runs, four earned, on 4 hits with a walk and a pair of hit batters while striking out two.
Kristen Cruickshank pitched the final 2 2/3 innings in relief, allowing 4 runs, three earned on 5 hits with 3 walks and a strikeout.
RRCC committed 4 errors.
Itasca 8, RRCC 2
In one of three games at Saturday’s Jennie Guyer Tournament in Grand Rapids, the Voyageurs lost to the team they open Thursday’s Region 13B Tournament, Itasca, 8-2.
Cruickshank was one of four RRCC pitchers for the game when she picked up the loss in 1 2/3 innings of work after giving up 3 unearned runs on 4 hits with 2 walks.
Of RRCC’s 6 hits, Fafard had 2 singles.
In the field, the Voyageurs committed 4 errors.
Mesabi 6, RRCC 5
RRCC lost in eight innings to Mesabi Range, 6-5.
Fafard pitched 3 1/3 innings and recorded the loss, giving up an unearned run on 4 hits while striking out two.
Redhead pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed 4 unearned runs on 5 hits with a walk and a strikeout, while Amanda Hofius threw two innings and gave up an earned run on 2 hits while striking out two.
Of RRCC’s 7 hits, Chelsea Poulton doubled and singled.
RRCC 12, Hibbing 9
RRCC erupted for 16 hits when its only win Saturday was to the team it lost to twice a day earlier, Hibbing, 12-9.
Poulton, who was named the Minnesota College Athletic Conference Northern Division “Player of the Week,” hit a pair of home runs and had 4 RBI.
Fafard and Brittany Johnson both had 3 hits, while Marangeli Sanchez, Kendra Charrois and Jenna Brady each added 2 hits.
Fafard pitched 4 1/3 innings in a winning effort, allowing 5 runs, two earned, on 6 hits with a walk and a strikeout. Redhead gave up a hit and a walk working a scoreless 2/3 innings. Cruickshank allowed 4 runs on 4 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts in two innings.
Region 13B Tournament
RRCC begins the four-team, double-elimination Region 13B Tournament in Grand Rapids at 10 a.m. Thursday when the No. 4-seeded Voyageurs face top-seeded Itasca.
The winner plays at noon Thursday against the winner between the No. 2 seed, North Dakota State College of Science, and No. 3-seeded Hibbing. The losers of both games will also play each other at noon.
The winner of the loser’s bracket and the loser of the winner’s bracket will then face each other at 2 p.m. Thursday. That winner will play the winner of the winner’s bracket at 10 a.m. Friday.
The winner of the winner’s bracket would become the Region 13B champion by winning Friday morning. However, if both teams end up having a loss for the tournament after that game, the championship will be decided in a final elimination game at noon Friday.
The Region 13B champion will advance to the NJCAA Division III Softball National Championship beginning May 17 in Rochester.
