Ironwomen break into win column
Finally.After winless seasons in both volleyball and basketball and a 12-game losing skid in softball, a Vermilion Community College women’s athletic team tasted victory last week.The Ironwomen won three of four games, sweeping Hibbing Monday afternoon and splitting a twinbill with Mesabi two days later.The Ironwomen got two hits each from Elyites Andrea Whiting and Jill Manning and downed Hibbing 6-4 in the first game of the Northern Division doubleheader.Krystle Smrekar got the pitching win and had two hits in a 5-3 second-game victory.First-year head coach Mandy Jelinek attributed VCC’s turnaround to good hitting, smart base running and the elimination of mental mistakes on defense.“There were numerous situations where Hibbing had runners on second and third with zero or one out and we held them from scoring,” said Jelinek. “This is how we should have been playing all year.”Smrekar tossed a six-hitter in the opener and VCC rallied from a 3-1 deficit to pull out the win. Manning scored two runs and had three stolen bases.In the second game, Smrekar scattered nine hits and the Ironwomen broke a 3-3 tie with two runs in the bottom of the sixth.Molly Trombley tripled for VCC and Ely’s Gena Jerich had two hits, including a double.Wednesday, Mesabi pulled out a 4-3 victory in the first game behind a two-run triple by Ashley St. Arnold.Chris Venema had two hits for the Ironwomen and Smrekar was tagged with the loss.VCC only got two hits in the second game, but the Ironwomen made them count as they prevailed 5-4. Cara Bigelow had a run-scoring hit for the winners.The previous weekend, VCC dropped 4-1 and 5-3 decisions at Northland, and suffered a 10-0, 5-3 sweep at Central Lakes.• Through the first 14 games, Manning led Vermilion with a .368 batting average.