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Mavericks dampen sectional foe

WELCOME — The Martin County West Mavericks were used to playing only one game a day during the playoffs when they were in Section 2A. When the team moved to Section 3AA, as the higher seed, teams play twice in one day if they win their first game.

The Mavericks got a blast from the past, only playing one game on Tuesday due to rain. Sierra Williamson and Jordan Stahl combined to hold the No. 7-seeded Redwood Valley Cardinals to three hits for a 3-0 win during the Section 3AA, South Sub-Section quarterfinals.

Redwood Valley finished the season with a 1-18 record.

The No. 2-seeded Mavericks (13-6) were scheduled to play the winner between No. 3-seeded Windom Area and No. 6-seeded St. James on Tuesday, but the contest only saw one pitch before the game was rained out. St. James and Windom Area pick back up at 2 p.m. today in Welcome, and the Mavericks will play the winner afterward.

“Sometimes it’s hard mentally to come back and play a second game after you sit and watch the other two teams,” Mavericks head coach Darrell Ziegler said. “It’ll be nice to come in and it’ll be our first game of the day, so we’ll be fresh and ready to go.”

The Mavericks, however, had just enough time to get their win to advance. Jenna Steele started the home team off with a one-out triple and added a final base due in part to an errant throw to third.

“That was one of the few mistakes; there weren’t that many mistakes in the game from either team,” Ziegler said. “You always need to take advantage when someone makes a mistake there and we were able to get that first run on the board there, which is big in these types of games to take the pressure away and relax the team.”

Defensively, the Mavericks retired all nine batters in order, including six strikeouts for starting pitcher Sierra Williamson. Back at the top of the order in the fourth, Sierra Williamson walked Emily Borman and Harlee Ahrens got a hit, but both were stranded when MCW got the final two outs.

Sierra Williamson walked A.J. Guggisberg and Jazmine Rainey in the next inning, but Sami Lydick grounded out and Williamson notched her seventh strikeout against Borman to keep the Cardinals scoreless.

“They (Cardinals) had a couple opportunities and each time — they got two that were on first or second base and in scoring position — we were able to dig down and come up with the big outs in that situation,” Ziegler said.

In the bottom of the fifth, Madison Klima lead off with a single to left-center. Eivey Kuehl moved Klima over with a sacrifice bunt, and Sydnee Hein hit a home run to put the Mavericks up, 3-0.

Stahl relieved Sierra Williamson in the sixth inning and gave up only one hit and struck out two batters over the final two innings.

“We’ve done that a lot this year where we use both of those girls pretty mcuh evenly throughout the whole season,” Ziegler said. “It does sometimes take a time or two through the order before they (batters) start seeing the ball a little better when we switch pitchers. So, it’s been pretty effective for us all season long.”

Sierra Williamson gave up only two hits, walked three and struck out seven in five-plus innings on the mound.

RV 000 000 0–0 3 2

MCW 100 020 x–3 5 0

Sierra Williamson (WP), Jordan Stahl (6) and Mercedes Moeller. Nicole Stoen (LP) and Harlee Ahrens.

LOB– Redwood Valley 5, Martin County West 3. 2B–A.J. Guggisberg (RV). 3B–Jenna Steele (MCW). HR–Sydnee Hein (MCW). SAC–Eivey Kuehl (MCW).

Section 2A Playoffs

Mountain Lake Area 11, Madelia/Truman 0 (5 innings) — Molly Carnell fired a two-hit shutout on the strength of eight strikeouts and no walks to propel the Wolverines to an 11-0, five-inning Section 2A opening win over the Jayhawks on Tuesday in Mountain Lake.

No. 6-seeded Mountain Lake Area (12-8) advances to face No. 3-seeded Mankato Loyola in a 5 p.m. second-round playoff game on Thursday in Mankato. Loyola received a first-round bye.

No. 11-seeded Madelia/Truman ended its season with a 4-17 record.

Carnell only allowed singles to Chloe Hartman and Brytni Drevlow in five full frames to earn the complete-game victory for Mountain Lake Area.

Riley Tollafson went 2-for-3 with two runs scored for the Wolverines, while Merideth Suess went 1-for-2 with two RBIs.

Taylor Naas and Carnell each doubled home a run for MLA, while Amber Eishen, Margo Stoesz and Jaelin Renquist contributed hits.

Jayhawks starting pitcher Courtney Davis allowed seven runs — five earned — on five hits, struck out one and walked two in 2 1/3 innings pitch to take the loss.

Jessica Baumgartner allowed four unearned runs on three hits, and walked two in 1 2/3 innings of relief for the Jayhawks.

The Martin Luther/ Granada-Huntley-East Chain Jaguars (4-15) travel to Cleveland today to face the No. 5-seeded Clippers (10-6) in a 3:15 p.m. Section 2A playoff game.

The game, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was rained out and rescheduled for today.

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