The 12-2 Raiders extended their Metro East Conference win streak and lead last week winning all five games including a come from behind 16-6 rally over South St. Paul on Saturday’s Softball Day Hastings at Veterans Park. The week started Apr. 29 with Woodbury coming to town and they gave Hastings a run for their money with the Raiders coming out on top 4-3. Mahtomedi was next on Apr. 30 and the Raiders blanked them 10-0. The girls travelled to Tartan for the 5-3 win on May 1 and May 2 they took down Two Rivers 2-1.
Against Mahtomedi
With five games last week, we will bring you highlights of two starting with the game against Mahtomedi where Hastings shut them out, winning 10-0 in five innings. Haley Strain was masterful on the mound going the distance with nine strikeouts and no walks allowing only one hit.
Offensively, Hastings had several players batting .500 or better. Sienna McCoy went 3-for-3 with one RBI and a walk. Leighton Robinson and Strain were both 2-for-3 with a single and a triple. Strain added three RBIs to the mix. Ella Hauschildt was part of the .667 club with Strain and Robinson with three singles and two runs scored. Lauren Meye went .500 with a hit, a walk and a run scored.
Hastings jumped out to the early 3-0 lead in the first. McCoy hit a single to the gap at third but was caught stealing before Robinson hit her triple. Strain followed Robinson with a triple of her own almost to the same spot in left field as Robinson. Addie Seleski singled, scoring Strain and Hastings was up 2-0. Meyer punched one up the gut just past the pitcher to score Seleski and the Raiders were on an offensive roll.
The second and third innings were quiet for both teams and a series of errors and well-placed hits allowed Hastings to extend the lead to 8-0 after four. With the ten-run rule in play, Meyer walked to lead off the fifth inning and Hauschildt singled up the middle to move Meyer to third. Heads up base running earned Hauschildt second on the throw from the centerfielder trying to get Meyer at third. Rachel Notch hit a swinging bunt to third and it looked like the Zephyr’s third baseman was going to be able to hold Meyer, but another heads up play by the Raiders scored Meyer to bring the Raiders with in one to win and advanced Hauschildt to third.
Lauren Muhl tried to execute a sacrifice bunt to push Hauschildt across for the win, but that would have to wait for McCoy to do. With a 3-1 count, McCoy drove the ball past second base to score the winning run.
Softball Day against South St. Paul
The story of the game against the Packers was perseverance. Strain had a Snapper mow ‘em down inning, starting the game with three straight strikeouts and Hastings jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but the young Packer players are a scrappy bunch. South St. Paul knocked the Raiders on their heels in the top of the second scoring six runs on four hits with two Raider errors to go up 6-2. Going back to the perseverance aspect of this game, Head Coach Becca Sorenson wanted to see how the girls would do after getting that first real knock down gut punch and the girls responded well.
What followed was a lot of filled in, blue boxes on the digital scorecard. Hastings plated three runs in the bottom of the second to narrow the gap to one and the Raider defense allowed only one additional hit the rest of the game as they clawed their way back.
In the fourth inning, Hastings took the lead for good scoring four to go up 9-6. The strong offensive performance exploded in the fifth inning with every Raider batter getting involved in the scoring in some form. Hastings batted through the entire lineup plus three to send 12 Raiders to the dish.
With the offense dominating play in the fifth inning, conversation between the online broadcasters went from talking about a comeback win to, will Leighton Robinson hit for the cycle to, will Hastings complete the 14-run, come from behind win in five innings for the 10-run rule?
Robinson had already hit a double, an in the park home run and a single before she batted in the fifth. Her fourth at bat was a second single and until the bases were loaded with McCoy coming to the plate and Hastings leading 15-6, there was hope that Robinson would have a fifth chance to hit the triple, but the only chance was if Hastings failed to plate the 16th run with the bases loaded. That 16th run scored in the most anti-climatic way, a walk, and the Raiders walked away with the win.
Six of ten Raiders had an RBI with Robinson leading the way with four. Strain and Hauschildt each had three and McCoy, Seleski and Meyer each had one. Strain went the distance once again with 10 strikeouts and three walks.
Up Next
The girls host Hill-Murray on May 7, then head to Edina on May 8 before they have a small break when they return to action on May 13 at home against Simley. All games are scheduled for 4:30 p.m. start time.