Falcon Softball Puts it All Together

The Faribault Falcons fast-pitch softball team put it all together in a 7-2 win over state-ranked Mankato East on the road Tuesday night.

The game was aired on Power 96 Radio and I would have to say it was a lot of fun to call the victory for a young Faribault team that is poised to make some noise.

Mankato East came into the game ranked seventh in Class AAA and Faribault dominated the contest from start to finish.

Faribault sophomore pitcher Claire Drentlaw came into the game with a 1.80 ERA and improved here record to 4-3 while the Falcon team is now 9-5 on the season.

Drentlaw pitched a complete game and struck out six while walking one batter and hitting a batter. She threw 108 pitches, 72 were for strikes. The most important numbers for Drentlaw in my estimation were her 18 first-pitch strikes to 29 batters and not allowing a single lead-off batter to reach base in the game.

Meanwhile, the Falcons had the lead-off person produce in five of the seven innings and they had some timely two-out hits that produced runs.

Faribault showed they were focused to start the game, scoring three runs in each of the first two innings, and knocking starting junor pitcher Morgan Keim-Wolfe out of the game.

Falcon freshman Lauren O'Neil set the tone for the game, smacking a 1-0 pitch into the  the right field corner for a triple to start the contest and scored on a RBI single by Drentlaw.

After a Bre Bresnahan walk there was a strikeout for the second out, but following an Mankato East error senior, designated player (DH) Raena Quinnell had an RBI single and the Falcons scored three runs in the first inning.

In the top of the second the hit parade continued.

Freshman Ellie Knutson led off the inning with a no-doubter home run over the left field fence. It was her first varsity homer.

Faribault would again get some timely two-out hitting and score two more runs in the inning on an RBI single by Bresnahan and RBI double by Cassie Swanson.

Going into bottom of second inning, the Falcons had a 6-0 lead and some of the Mankato East players in the dugout looked to be a little shocked.

The Cougars scored their only two runs of the game in the second.

With one out they got back-to-back singles and with two outs Keim-Wolfe had a bases-loaded single that plated two runs.

The second runner was called safe at the plate even though the throw was perfect to home because catcher Abby Van Ryn was called for blocking the plate.

Drentlaw would have up and down innings in the third, fourth and fifth innings before another batter would even get on base.

The Falcons added another run in the fourth inning.

With one out, Swanson singled and her pinch runner, eighth-grader Abby Lake, would go to second on a wild pitch.

With two outs again, Quinnell collected her third hit of the game and second RBI.

Our Faribault State Farm Insurance agents Faribault players of the game were Quinnell, Drentlaw, Knutson and Bresnahan courtesy of Faribault State Farm agents Tony Langerud and Jason Krohn.

Bresnahan finished with two hits, two runs scored, an RBI and some nice fielding plays at shortstop. Quinnell had three hits and two RBI and two of the hits came with two outs and two strikes on her. Drentlaw pitched terrific, allowing just six hits and keeping the hitters off balance with an awesome changeup.

Some of the credit for keeping the hitters out of their comfort zone should also go to freshman catcher Abby Van Ryn, who calls the games for Faribault.

Freshman Brooke Flicek had two hits also.

Faribault is now 9-5 and hosts state-ranked Northfield on Thursday in a doubleheader at North Alexander Park.

Get out and watch these Falcons play because they are executing in a fun fashion. I was really impressed with their discipline at the plate. They simply did not swing at bad pitches against Mankato East. Just three batters struck out in the game.

Faribault cranked out 12 hits, according to my scorebook, and the only negative on the day was leaving 10 runners on base and eight in scoring position.