Viking softball narrowly defeated at Elk Mound

By Cara L. Dempski

ELK MOUND — Last Thursday’s softball game at Elk Mound was a rivalry match to remember.

The May 11 game was knotted at two but the Mounders found a way to plate a pair of runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning and freshman pitcher Clare Hallum slammed the door on the Colfax offense in the top of the seventh to give Elk Mound a 4-2 home win.

The victory kept the Mounders, who already clinched the Dunn-St. Conference softball crown for a third straight season, unbeaten in conference play.

Mounder head coach Sam Weix watched, grinning through gritted teeth, as her team struggled to mount an offense against a Colfax defense that was much improved compared to their initial meeting.

Colfax head coach Richard Meredith helped his defense as often as he could until the home plate umpire barked a sixth-inning warning informing the Viking coach he would not like the result if he continued to challenge pitch calls.

Weix said her Mounder girls were slow offensively in the game, a position the team has been in before.

“Usually we can get our bats going at least for an inning or two,” Weix noted. “Last night we struggled at the plate all game.”

The Elk Mound coach said she was pleased to see her defense buckle down and find a way to win.

Neither team scored until the third, and then Viking short stop Tamara Huffman put one on the board for Colfax after a single off the bat of Mikaela Leibfried sent her home. The Mounders were not to be outdone, and put a run on the board in the bottom of the third to knot the score at one as both teams moved into the fourth.

GET IT THERE — Colfax shortstop Tamara Huffman fires the ball toward first base to get an out during the Vikings’ May 11 road trip to Elk Mound. The Colfax squad held its own defensively against the Mounders, but eventually sustained a 4-2 loss to end up 0-2 against Elk Mound this season. —photo by Cara L. Dempski

Mounder pitcher Clare Hallum had an off night in the circle, but her defense backed up her up in the top of the fourth with a pair of outs at first and a fly-out caught by short stop Karie Jo Nigon to get three batters out in the top of the fourth and give the home team another chance to score.

Elk Mound did pick up another run in the bottom half of the fourth to take a 2-1 lead, its first of the game, into the fifth inning.

Colfax went through a pair of outs in the top of the fifth when Hallum caught both Becca Lee and Dailyn Mortenson swinging, but the team did send Huffman all the way around to score a second time in the game.

The junior took a walk from the Elk Mound hurler before a double from the bat of Kameri Meredith sent her all the way in to tie the game at two. The Viking defense held the Mounders scoreless in the bottom half of the inning to go back up to bat in the sixth with the game still tied 2-2.

Hallum saw just three Viking batters again in the top of the sixth, and struck out junior MaKayla Mattson swinging before nabbing a short ball off Hailey Durand-Christian’s bat and lobbing it to Lauren Scharlau at first for the second out. The Mounders got the third out of Jozie Buchanan and stepped up to the plate with the hope of breaking the stalemate.

OUT — Becca Lee, second base for the Vikings, reels in an infield fly for an out during Colfax’s second match-up of 2017 against the Mounders at Elk Mound. The Lady Vikings sustained a 4-2 loss to slip to 8-7 in the DSC, while Elk Mound clinched a piece of the DSC. —photo by Cara L. Dempski

The Elk Mound team did just that in a decisive manner, pushing around the bases aggressively enough to put a pair of runners in scoring position when Kirstin Dutzle stepped up to the plate and sent both runners home, giving the Mounders a 4-2 lead.

The home team was able to hold on for the win to sweep the regular season series from their nearest conference foe. Elk Mound improved to 14-0 in conference and 18-4 overall. Colfax is 8-7 in conference and overall play.

The Mounder barely edged the Vikes in hits, 6-5, but took advantage of three Colfax errors. 

Meredith led the Viking offense with an RBI and a double, while Mattson logged a double and Leibfried took credit for the other run batted in. Tamara Huffman had a pair of hits and scored both Colfax runs.

Dutzle topped the Elk Mound offense with a pair of RBIs and a double. Freshman Sophie Cedarblade logged a double and batted in a runner, while Nigon was credited with one RBI on the evening.

Hallum took the win for Elk Mound, allowing five hits and a pair of runs while striking out six and walking two in seven. Buchanan pitched six innings for Colfax, allowing six hits and four runs, but walked only one batter and struck out two.

ELK MOUND 4, COLFAX 2 
Colfax………………….0  0  1  0  1  0  0 — 2
Elk Mound……………0  0  1  1  0  2  0 — 4