An unearned run in the bottom of the seventh gave Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven Ayrshire a 2-1 victory Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn June 29 at Ruthven. Two walks, a wild pitch and an error brought the curtain down on the contest. It was an ill-fitting ending to a game that had spotlighted defense and pitching.
The girls played a great game defensively,” noted Hawk head coach Stephanie Bronstad. “We hit the ball pretty well…not as good as we needed. Gracie (Knobloch) pitched a tough game and stayed competitive on the mound. We stayed tough up to the last inning and unfortunately lost due to an error that cost us the game.”
Knobloch walked four batters but allowed just three hits. She struck out four Titan batters. The seventh-inning error was just the second for the Hawks in the game.
Two of the three GTRA hits came in the first inning and resulted on a run. The Hawks responded in their next at bat. Leadoff batter Darby Mastbergen was hit by a pitch. She gained second by way of a stolen base. Bailey VerHelst grounded out to third and Mastbergen moved up a base. Elle Mastbergen hit a groundout to short and Darby Mastbergen scored, giving her sister an RBI.
Titan pitcher Natalie Swedin scattered six hits. Eliza Tewes singled with two outs in the first and Jessica Riedemann had a one-out base hit in the third. Darby Mastbergen hit a double with one out in the fourth. There were two singles in the sixth, the first by Meghan Larson and the second by Darby Mastbergen. Knobloch notched a one-out single in the seventh. Each team left six runners on base.
HMS 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 – 1
GTRA 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 2