Apr. 22—BEMIDJI — Through two innings, it looked as if the Bemidji High School softball team’s offense would lead the charge.
Taylor Morley had other ideas.
Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the third, the Wolverines made a change in the pitcher’s circle. Morley came in and hurled six shutout innings and struck out 14 batters, leading Rock Ridge to a 5-3 victory in eight innings.
“We didn’t have an answer for her,” BHS head coach Brad Takkunen said. “Her bread and butter is her rise ball, and we hadn’t seen that yet this year. The other thing she had was a little more velocity, and I don’t think the velocity itself would’ve hurt us, but the combination of it and needing to look for the rise ball, it’s all credit to her. She’s a good pitcher. I’ve heard things about her being dominant. Now I see why.”
In the top of the fourth inning, Chance Colbert grounded into a fielder’s choice to bring in the tying run. It was the last time a player for either team crossed home plate until the top of the eighth inning.
The Wolverines loaded the bases with three walks — one intentional. Another walk with the bases loaded put Rock Ridge ahead 4-3 before Kylie Marolt scored on a passed ball to double the lead.
Two runs were enough for Morley, who allowed only one hit on Tuesday. She struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth inning to push Bemidji to 3-2 this season.
Despite an extra-innings loss at the hands of exceptional pitching, Taukkunen was satisfied with his hitter’s approach at the plate, especially early on.
Maya Schmidt drove in the go-ahead run with one out on a fielder’s choice after Emma Greiner and Matjea Malterud reached base to lead off the inning. Greiner scored on a wild pitch before Malterud crossed home.
Mckenzee Jaranson put the Jacks ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the second inning by scoring on a passed ball.
“I was really happy with the way they took their at-bats in the first couple of innings,” Takkunen said. “There wasn’t an easy out in the mix. There wasn’t one of them who went up there with the intention of striking out when their better pitcher came in. The bottom line is we’re facing this kind of pitcher, so now what?
“I was very pleased with how we came out, especially after our last game against Hermantown. I don’t know what happened in that last game. But we made some changes, and I liked the way they competed today. We can build off of that.”
When BHS needed outs, LaZella delivered. She threw all eight innings, surrendering two hits, four earned runs and striking out 10 batters. LaZella, however, walked nine Rock Ridge hitters.
Takkunen is willing to take the highs and lows his young pitcher gives him as she develops into a regular in the circle.
“We want to try and have her throw fewer pitches overall, but she just keeps battling and putting us in a position to win games,” Takkunen said. “The bottom line is we can’t ask for anything more. I put her in a tough situation, and I know that. I wanted to see how she’d respond, too. We got some answers today, and I can’t ask for anything more out of her.
“Hopefully, we can get a little more sharpness out of her as the season goes on, but she didn’t give (Rock Ridge) a chance to hit that many hard off of her.”
Bemidji is 25% of the way into its season, with plenty of tests left on the schedule to prepare for the Section 8-4A Tournament. The Lumberjacks are getting comfortable in unfamiliar territory, which includes figuring out how to flip a losing streak after a 13-0 loss against Hermantown and a 3-2 loss against Rock Ridge.
“When we played that Hermantown game, we tried some things, and I don’t know if we’ll see some of those things again,” Takkunen said. “Same thing here. I have to know how some of these kids are going to respond to certain situations. We have a tough road ahead of us, too. … I like the way we competed today, and hopefully, we can keep that up.”
Rock Ridge 5, Bemidji 3 (F/8)
RR 110 100 02 — 5-2-3
BHS 210 000 00 — 3-4-1
WP: Morley (6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 14 K)
LP: LaZella (8 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 4 ER, 9 BB, 10 K)