BEMIDJI 鈥� Brainerd left no doubt in its win over the Lumberjacks.
But in just a few days, the Bemidji High 歪歪漫画 softball team will have a shot at revenge.
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The Jacks wrapped up their regular season with a 13-1 loss to the Warriors on a rain-soaked Friday afternoon. Brainerd鈥檚 starting pitcher, Mya Tautges, sliced through the BHS batting order. She allowed just two hits and one unearned run while collecting 13 strikeouts and issuing two walks.
This Tuesday, the Lumberjacks will likely have to face her again. Bemidji, officially the No. 6 seed in the Section 84A Tournament, will head down to No.3 Brainerd for a 4:30 p.m. rematch to kick off postseason play.
鈥淢y assumption is that we鈥檒l face the same pitcher we just faced,鈥� head coach Brad Takkunen said. 鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 happen very often. Brainerd鈥檚 a very good team. Obviously, she鈥檚 a very dominant pitcher.鈥�
However, Takkunen believes Friday鈥檚 loss was a learning opportunity for the batters. With some key in-game experience against Tautges under their belts, he hopes the Jacks can use it to enter Tuesday鈥檚 tilt well-equipped to make the necessary adjustments at the plate.
鈥淗onestly, can鈥檛 get any better, how can you practice that any more?鈥� Takkunen said. 鈥淭he hope now is that we can make some adjustments and have better at-bats. I liked what we were doing for the most part, but just some of the ones that maybe got away from us a little bit, even have stronger at-bats.鈥�
The Warriors, however, got a look at two of Bemidji鈥檚 pitchers. Maya Schmidt started the game for the Lumberjacks, pitching 3 1/3 innings and giving up eight runs (six earned) before Ridley Hadrava came in for relief.
Hardava pitched the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and five runs (three earned) while notching two strikeouts.
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鈥�(I liked) the fact that she competed,鈥� Takkunen said. 鈥淎fter seeing Brainerd hit the ball in the earlier innings, she was willing to come in there and still throw the ball and compete and see what happens. That's the only thing that you can hope for, is just to say 鈥楬ey, I鈥檝e got to throw the ball and see what happens, and hope for the best鈥�.鈥�
The Jacks could very well deploy Karley LaZella as the starting pitcher on Tuesday, forcing the Warriors to contend with a different face in the circle. The sophomore has some stellar starts under her belt this season, the most recent being a seven-inning shutout against Detroit Lakes .
鈥淔or us, it鈥檚 a gamble that we take, I guess, just to save maybe what we think our best might be, in the sense of who鈥檚 been throwing more of our games than not,鈥� Takkunen said. 鈥淭he idea is that, hopefully, that will give them some time to have to make that adjustment, and that was my thought, so we鈥檒l see if it works out.鈥�
In the batter鈥檚 box, Bemidji鈥檚 only two hits against Brainerd came courtesy of Sammy Nistler and Schmidt.
Nistler notched her hit in the bottom of the sixth inning, when BHS trailed by 12.
鈥淚 was happy with her at-bats,鈥� Takkunen said. 鈥淚 think she made contact every time, but obviously, hit the ball hardest in that third at-bat, put a nice swing on there. The hope, of course, is that that鈥檚 going to be a bit of a confidence boost going into that game on Tuesday, but time will tell.鈥�
The Jacks鈥� lone run came in the second inning, when Hadrava cracked a ground ball, reached first on an error from the second baseman and sent Hayden Dahl home.
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That run knotted things up at 1-1 to end the second inning. However, the Warriors鈥� bats caught fire in the third. Tautges blasted a home run to center field in the first at-bat of the inning to capture a slight lead. Her teammates tacked on four more runs for a 6-1 advantage.
Brainerd continued to build its lead in the next three innings, eventually crafting a 12-run advantage by the end of the sixth to end the game an inning early.
Brainerd 13, Bemidji 1 (F/6)
BRD 105 223 鈥� 13-12-1
BHS 010 000 鈥� 1-2-4
WP: Tautges (6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 13 SO)
LP: Schmidt (3.1 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 0 SO)
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