The Tigers softball team hosted Duluth Marshall on Tuesday in the first round of section 7AA playoffs.
Rush City wasted no time getting through the first inning. Grace Folkema started at pitcher and struck out three straight. The Tigers quickly put runners on base but squandered the opportunity to add any early runs. The 2nd inning was all about the pitching again. Folkema did clip a Hilltopper sending her to first, but quickly struck the next two grabbing another 3 strikeout inning. In the bottom of inning number 2 the Tigers were able to crack the scoreboard. The Tigers had to stay patient at the plate, as they were a number of walks to begin the inning. But among those walks were some well placed hits. These hits lead to the Tigers scoring 5 runs in the second inning.
Going into the 3rd inning Folkema was working on a no hitter, that was sadly broken up when a ground ball was beat out by the Hilltopper batter. It didn't seem to bother Grace as she once again struck out three more batters to end the inning and not allow a run. The Tigers brought even more runs to the plate in their next at bats, seeing 6 more points added on to their 5 run lead. The 4th inning saw a new pitcher come into the game for the Tigers, Paityn Adickes. She made quick work of the three batters she faced striking out all three. Rush City was held off the board in the 4th inning but still had their comfortable 11-0 lead heading into what could be the 5th and final inning.
The Hilltoppers were not going to go down so easily. Each of their batters battled at the plate and one was able to zip a ball into the outfield for a base hit. Adickes quickly corrected course and yet again struck out three batters to end the game with the Tigers winning.
Between Grace Folkema and Paityn Adickes they struck out 15 batters allowed only 2 hits and walked one. A dominant performance they will hope continues throughout the playoffs. With the win they move onto the next round in Grand Rapids on Thursday, where they'll play against Aitkin at 3:30pm. Win or lose they'll play again at 5:30pm.
