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by Tom Coombe
An untimely lapse has left the Ely Timberwolves softball team with a sizable hole to dig out of.
Four errors in the first two innings led to four unearned runs and helped South Ridge to a 6-2 win Tuesday as the double-elimination round began in the Section 7A playoffs.
Ely, which blasted Cook County 16-0 earlier in the day, fell into the elimination round and was set to tangle with Littlefork-Big Falls Thursday at Moose Lake.
The fourth-seeded Timberwolves, who fell to 16-5, needed to win twice to keep their season alive and reach the 7A Final Four, which begins May 27 at Cloquet.
Thanks to a seven-game winning streak to end the regular season, the Wolves vaulted into the number-four seed for the 7A tournament.
But number-five South Ridge (13-7) owned a regular season win over the Wolves and pounced early in the playoff rematch.
Two dropped fly balls and an infield error allowed the visitors to jump to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first.
Ely responded with two in the bottom of the frame, with an assist from the Panthers.
Leadoff hitter Peyton Huntington singled, stole second and scored when Zoe MacKenzie reached base on an error. MacKenzie closed the gap to one when she scored on a Clare Thomas single.
But winning pitcher, Maya Vanderscheuren, settled in and escaped further damage and limited the Wolves the rest of the way.
South Ridge got needed insurance with three more runs in the top of the second, scoring three times with two out and again aided by an error.
The pitchers dominated the rest of the way, with Ely’s MacKenzie keeping South Ridge in check and the Wolves unable to threaten against Vanderscheuren.
The South Ridge righthander, only a ninth-grader, retired 15 of the last 17 hitters she faced and finished with a five-hitter and five strikeouts.
MacKenzie went the distance for the Wolves, allowing only two earned runs and recording four strikeouts.
• Earlier in the day, the Wolves exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the second and went on to a 16-0, four-inning rout against Cook County.
MacKenzie didn’t give up a hit in three scoreless innings, and helped her own cause with two runs scored and three runs batted in.
Senior Maija Mattson belted a two-run home run and wound up two-for-two with three runs scored and three RBI.
Makenzie Huntington went three-for-three including a double, and eighth-grader Lindi Zemke had two hits with two runs scored.
Clare Thomas also was two-for-three with two runs scored and Rylee Larsen knocked in two runs.
Freshman Naomi Archer pitched a scoreless fourth.
• In the May 17 regular season finale, the Wolves scored nine runs in the first and won 15-0 at Floodwood.
Peyton Huntington capped off the first-inning uprising with a grand slam, while Thomas collected two hits and Julia Zgonc scored two runs and had two RBI.
Mattson, Zemke and Makenzi Huntington scored two runs each, and MacKenzie tossed a two-hit shutout.
• The Wolves edged a solid Hill City-Northland team 4-2 in a May 16 regular season home game.
Larsen’s fifth-inning single broke a scoreless deadlock, and Peyton Huntington’s two-run triple was a key blow.
The Storm closed the gap to 3-2 in the top of the sixth, but Ely countered with an insurance run.
Ella Perish singled and later was driven in by Larsen.
MacKenzie went the distance, tossing a three-hitter with eight strikeouts.
• In the first half of the split May 16 home doubleheader, Makenzi Huntington was three-for-three with four RBI in a 15-5 victory against Two Harbors.
Perish added two hits and two runs batted in, while Thomas scored three times with two hits.
Zgonc added two hits for the winners, while both Larsen and MacKenzie singled with two RBI each.
Archer was in the circle for the winners and went all five innings, yielding four hits and recording six strikeouts.
