After a couple cancelled games due to the weather, the Pine River-Backus varsity softball team opened up their season playing the Red Lake Warriors at Red Lake. The Tigers only played one game, and they won, 19-0. The winning pitcher was Krystle Hamilton who had five strikeouts and only one walk. The TigersÕ defense shut down the WarriorsÕ attempts to get on base and kept them to only one hit. They also had no errors to Red LakeÕs nine errors. On offense the Tigers were on bat with 11 hits including two doubles for Paige Sepin and Krystle Hamilton. The Tigers also racked up 20 stolen bases with Mackenzie Sepin leading the team with six stolen bases. Paige Sepin and Tahnee Hamilton led the Tigers in Runs-Batted-In (RBIs) with four RBIs for Paige and three for Tahnee.
On Saturday the Tigers participated in the annual varsity softball tournament in Park Rapids where they took seventh place out of eight teams. For their first game they played the Lake of the Woods Bears and lost 10-3. However, they played a pretty close game and were in it 6-3 in the top of the sixth inning, but the Bears come out in bottom of the sixth and scored four more runs to solidify their lead. Krystle Hamilton was the losing pitcher with two strikeouts. She gave up two walks and two in the park homeruns. Krystle also had two of the team's three RBIs off a base hit and a triple. The three who scored for the Tigers were Mackenzie Sepin, Erin Johnson and Paige Sepin. The Tigers had six errors to the Bears' one error.
The Tigers faced off against the Norman County West Panthers for their second game, but they lost 15-5 in the fifth inning due to the 10-run rule. Krystle Hamilton pitched through the third inning, and then Erin Johnson took over. Erin Johnson was the losing pitcher with one strikeout and three walks. Once again the Tigers had six errors to the Panthers' three errors. The Tigers scored their five runs off walks, passed balls, and only one hit. Scoring for the Tigers were Erin Johnson, Paige Sepin, Denin Oliver, Cassy Erickson, and Emalee Arends.
The Tigers' third and final game, for seventh place, was against the Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Wolves. The Tigers won 12-7. The winning pitcher was Erin Johnson with two strikeouts and six walks. Both teams had three errors apiece. The Tigers' defense played a key role in holding the Wolves to only seven runs. They pulled three double plays, two by Denin Oliver and one by Krystle Hamilton. Also, the Tigers' bats were hot; they had eight hits including a double from Paige Sepin. They were also daring on the bases and came away with 13 stolen bases. Nicole Tulenchik and Mackenzie Sepin each had four stolen bases.
The Tigers play four teams this week for a total of five games. They played Blackduck on April 21, Walker on April 22. They have a double header against Cass Lake on April 24 and Verndale on April 25.
