Prep report: Two Harbors, Silver Bay softball teams win first-round playoff games

Agates softball

The Agates won their first Section 7AA playoff game this Tuesday 10-0 over Crosby-Ironton. Madison Olson threw a five-inning no-hitter, striking out 14. Savannah Juenemann was the big hitter for the night going 3x4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBIs. Olson hit 2x3 with 1 RBI.

Last week, the Agates closed out regular season play with two wins. The team came back from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Eveleth-Gilbert Bears on Wednesday night.

Early in the game the Agates committed some untimely errors to give the Bears a five run lead. But with a pitching change, the Agates came back in the third and fourth to tie the game. Eveleth took the lead again, but the Agates tacked on 3 more in the 6th to get the win.

The Agates ended their regular season with a win over Mesabi East last Thursday, bringing their overall record for the season to 16-4.

“It was a crazy, windy day and it took a few innings to get the bats going,” coach Julie Benson said. “Madison and Sasha threw a good game, keeping the batters off guard.” Madison Olson had 15 strikeouts.

The Agates finished the regular season with a record of 16-4. The team faced the Proctor Rails in a second-round playoff game Thursday in Cohasset.

Wednesday, May 16

Two Harbors 8, Eveleth-Gilbert 6

Madison Olson – 7IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 11K, Sasha Fjeran – 1x3, 2R. Sarah Fjeran – 1x4, 1R, 1SB, 2RBI. Jenny Grignon – 1x4, 1R, 1SB, 1RBI. Courtney Kimball – 2x4, 2B, 2R, 1RBI. Savannah Juenemann – 3x4, 1RBI. Madison Olson – 1x4, 1RBI. Molly O’Meara – 3x4, 2B, 1RBI. Jasmine Hiukka – 1x3, 2R, 3SB

Thursday, May 17

Two Harbors 8, Mesabi East 0

Madison Olson – 7IP, 3H, 0R, 15K. Jenny Grignon – 2x4, 3R, 1SB. Courtney Kimball – 3x4, 2-2B, 2R, 3RBI. Savannah Juenemann – 1x4, 1R, 1RBI. Hailey Clark – 1x4, 3B, 2RBI.

Tuesday, May 22

Two Harbors 10, Crosby-Ironton 0

Madison Olson – 5IP, 0H, 14K. Savannah Juenemann – 3x4, 2 2B, 2R, 3RBI. Madison Olson – 2x3, 1RBI. Jenny Grignon – 1x4, 1R, 2RBI, 1SB. Courtney Kimball – 1x4, 1R, 1RBI. Molly O’Meara – 1x3, 1RBI, 1SB. Sasha Fjeran – 1x4, 2R, 2SB. Sarah Fjeran – 1x4, 2R, 1SB. Hailey Clark – 1x3, 1R, 1SB.

Mariners softball

Silver Bay used a seven-run second inning and nine-run third inning to pull away from the Hill City Hornets for a 16-2 first round victory in the Section 7A playoffs.

The Mariners sent 13 batters to the plate in the second inning. Jessica Hipple drove in the first run with a double and a Shay Viola ground ball scored two more. After Taylor Guzzo singled in two more, a sacrifice fly from Katie Smedstad scored another. Brittany Duresky then doubled to drive in the final run of the inning. The third inning saw nine of the first 10 ten batters reach base and score. Guzzo singled in one,Smedstad doubled in two, Duresky singled in one and Hipple singled in another. Rebecca Dilley then doubled in a couple more and a couple of errors scored the last two runs.

Guzzo picked up the victory giving up two runs on 6 hits. She struck out four and walked four. Duresky, Hipple and Guzzo each had two hits and Smedstad and Guzzo each drove in three runs. Phoenix Lillis scored three times. Lacey Washburn was 3-for-3 for the Hornets.

The Mariners played the winner of Mesabi East vs Mountain Iron-Buhl yesterday in quarterfinal action at Cloquet.

Tuesday, May 22

Silver Bay 16, Hill City 2

WP: Taylor Guzzo 4IP, 5K, 6H, 4W. SB (15-6): Guzzo 2H, 4RBIs; Brittany Duresky 2H (2B); Jessica Hipple 2B, 2R, 2RBIs. HC (14-7): Lacey Washburn 3H.

Agates baseball

Brad Myrdal stole home in the first inning and Kyle Omtvedt scattered seven hits in the nonconference shutout at Two Harbors Monday.

The Agates finished the regular season this week, with a game against Northwestern on Wednesday and Virginia on Thursday.

Monday, May 21

Two Harbors 1, South Ridge 0

WP: Kyle Omtvedt 7IP, 7H, 3K, 1BB. TH: Brad Myrdal stole home in 1st inning; Tim Bott 2x3, Lucas Kempffer 2x3 (2B).

Mariners baseball

The baseball team defeated Barnum 8-7 in eight innings, defeated Northeast Range 8-3 and lost 10-3 to Duluth Marshall.

They improved their overall record to 5-9 with a conference mark of 4-5.

Jonah Koehler and Daniel Wilson each had three hits in the Barnum game to go with two from Luke Small. The game ended in the bottom of the eighth when right fielder Spencer Tiboni relayed the ball to second baseman Jordan Fralich, the cutoff man. Fralich relayed it to first baseman Chad Smuk, who relayed it home to catcher Small. Small nailed the runner who represented the tying run to end the game with a play of 9-4-3-2.

Zack Duresky was the winning pitcher at Babbitt with Fralich, Small and Nathan Bauck each getting three hits.

Fralich was 2-3 against Marshall.

Wednesday, May 16

Silver Bay 8, Barnum 7

SB: Lucas Small 2x5, 2R; Jonah Koehler 3x5; Daniel Wilson 3x4 (2-2B); Zach Duresky RBI. B: Thomas Ziegler 3x4, 2R: Zach Carlson 2RBIs; Jake Naslund 2x5 (3B), 2RBIs; Sam Kovanen 2x4, RBI; Seth Vogt 2B; Chase Peterson 2B, RBI.

Thursday, May 17

Silver Bay 8, Northeast Range 3

WP: Zack Duresky. LP: Dylan Scherer 3.2IP. SB: Jordan Fralich 3H; Nathan Buck 3H; Lucas Small 3H. NR: Brody Skala 2x3; Scherer 2x3; Joe Wenzel 2x3.

Saturday, May 19

Duluth Marshall 10, Silver Bay 3

WP: Jake Fugere 7IP, 6H, 6K, 7BB. DM (6-10): Cedric Heller 2x4, 3R; Fugere 3x3, 2RBIs. SB: Jordan Fralich 2x3 (2B).

Agate track

Fifteen Two Harbors track team members received all-conference honors at last Wednesday’s Polar League Conference Championships hosted by Barnum. First-place relays and first- and second-place individuals in each event are given All-Conference honors.

“We had a lot of personal records,” coach Anthony Altiere said. He estimated that 75 percent of the boys’ team and 90 percent of the girls’ team set personal bests in their events.

In the second event of the meet, the 100 hurdles, Maddie Wielinski took first and Amanda Anderson took second.

“The hurdlers really set the tone for the girls,” Altiere said.

Halfway through the meet, the 4x100 girls relay team broke the conference record set by Esko in 2008. Leann Fynboh ran the first leg, followed by Krista Keranen and Jessie Juenemann. The team was anchored by Lacey Myrdal, who edged out Esko’s final runner by less than a second to take first place and set the new record.

One relay member, Juenemann, is an eighth-grader originally pulled up to the varsity team as a discus thrower.

“She didn’t start running workouts until week five,” Altiere said. Then she ran a 100-meter dash and coaches saw her potential for sprinting.

Sophomore Allison Nowacki tied for first in the high jump to take home All-Conference honors.

Steph McGregor, Casey Cross and Kaley Peterson swept the top three places in shot put. McGregor and Peterson took first and second in discus as well, followed by Madison Stroozas in fourth.

“When you have four of the best throwers in the section, you can’t help but score a lot of points,” Altiere said.

Those points added up to help the Lady Agates take second place overall in the meet.

The boys’ relay teams also had a successful day, the 4x200 team winning its race for the fourth year in a row.

The 4x400 relay team had the fourth-fastest time in school history, coming in just one second behind the winning team from Moose Lake.

Kevin Thewis was All-Conference in two events, placing second in both the 110 and 300 hurdles.

Micaiah Schubert, who was injured earlier this season, came back to take fourth place in the 1600 run. He cut 12 seconds off his best time this season, coming in just under five minutes.

“He had no idea at first, he thought he’d run another 5:11,” distance coach Dan Hebl said. “It was great when he found out.”

The boys’ team finished fifth overall.

Mariner track

The Mariner boys finished with 52 points at the Polar League track meet, good for fifth place.

Baruch Fischer won the shot put and Kyle Blood finished second in the 800.

Josh Malone picked up points in both the 110 and 300 meter hurdles along with Mark Harris in the 110. Holden Panetti got points in the 100-meter dash and Luke Thun in the 1600.

Taylor Woodwick gathered points in the discus, high jump and triple jump. The Mariners also got points from both their 4x200 and 4x400 relay teams.

On the girls side, Abby Michels placed fourth in the 400 and fifth in the 100.

THHS and WKHS All-Conference awards:

Maddie Wielinski, THHS, 100m Hurdles, 1st Place

Amanda Anderson, THHS, 100m Hurdles, 2nd Place

Girls 4x100m Relay, THHS, 1st Place (Leann Fynboh, Krista Keranen, Jessie Juenemann, Lacey Myrdal)

Allison Nowacki, THHS, High Jump, 1st Place (tie)

Stephanie McGregor, THHS, Shot Put, 1st Place and Discus, 1st Place

Kaley Peterson, THHS, Discus, 2nd Place

Casey Cross, THHS, Shot Put, 2nd Place

Kevin Thewis, THHS, 110m Hurdles, 2nd Place and 300m Hurdles, 2nd Place

Boys 4x200m Relay, THHS, 1st Place (Lee Myrdal, Tyler McGregor, Nathan Craig, Drew Christiansen)

Kyle Blood, WKHS, 800m Run, 2nd Place

Baruch Fischer, WKHS, Shot Put, 1st Place

Polar League Conference Meet Results

Boys:

Teams: 1. Esko, 188; 2. Moose Lake-Willow River, 175; 3. Two Harbors, 87.5; 4. Cromwell, 65; 5. Silver Bay, 52; 6. Wrenshall, 31; 7. Cook County, 26; 8. McGregor, 23.5; 9. Floodwood, 14; 10. Barnum, 10; 11. Carlton, 9.

Girls

Teams: 1. Esko, 228; 2. Two Harbors, 149; 3. Cromwell, 72; 4. Moose Lake-Willow River, 55; 5. (tie) Carlton and Wrenshall, 43; 7. Cook County, 37; 8. Barnum, 24; 9. Floodwood, 15; 10. Silver Bay, 9; 11. McGregor, 8.

Agate golf

Thanks to unusually warm weather, the Two Harbors High School golf team began outdoor practice early this year.

“Usually at the beginning of the season we’re fighting northeast wind, fog and rain, but this year we were casually walking out on the course in shorts,” coach Mike Fitzpatrick said.

Regular-season meets began in April and the team will begin playoff competition at the subsection meet this week.

Chris Ruberg, a junior, is the top golfer for the boys’ team. The boys’ team has nine players contributing to the six-person team fielded at each meet. The girls’ team has two players, Shelby Holbeck and Scotti Berg. Though none of the Two Harbors golfers has yet cracked the top 10 at large invites, they’re up against tough competition, including teams from large schools like Centennial, Edina and Duluth East.

“It’s the best of the best,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s cool to me as a coach, because you don’t always get exposure to that high level of competition in other sports.”

The team has been holding its own against teams in its subsection and the Polar League. The boys’ team placed second out of four teams at the Polar League Cup, and Fitzpatrick thinks they have a shot at moving on to sections from this week’s subsection meet at Giants Ridge.

“They’re familiar with the course; we play there quite often,” he said.

The team also has a thriving junior high program, with more than 20 participants. Fitzpatrick listed Logan Anderson, Jake Swanson, Macy Jones and Morgan Pirsig as the team’s junior high up-and-comers.

“There’s a lot of hope on the horizon,” he said.

Tags: sports, baseball, preps