The Becker Bulldog girls softball team finished up conference play over the past week with a pair of wins over Chisago Lakes and St. Francis.  The wins gave Becker a M8 record of 11-3 and there were a few conference games left to be played this week to determine the M8 Champions.  Becker was still in the hunt for a tie for the title, but needed some help in the form of losses by Chisago Lakes and Big Lake in their final games.

Wildcats

Last Thursday, Becker hosted fifth-ranked Chisago Lakes for the team’s Strikeout Cancer Night and came away with a 5-2 win.  

“This was a big game for us as we looked to keep close in the race for the conference championship and a top two seed in the section tournament,” Coach Jason Baune said.

Becker was on the board first with a run in the bottom of the second when Brooke Hendrickson led off with a double, advanced to third on a wild pitch and later scored on a second wild pitch.  

However, the Wildcats answered immediately with two runs in the top of the third on a hit by pitch, double, and Bulldog error.  The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the fourth when Hendrickson and Makenna Zerwas started the inning with singles and a Maddie Sherman walk loaded the bases.  Krista Paulson unloaded the bases with a double that scored three and gave Becker a 4-2 lead.    

The Bulldogs added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Kurstyn Patnode scored on a single off the bat of Cadence Koste.  The Wildcats were unable to put more than a single runner on each inning after the fourth as Emma Eickhoff pitched a gem of a game.

Paulson, Patnode, Eickhoff, and Zerwas each had two hits on the night.  Eickhoff went all seven innings in the circle and allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits.  She didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven.

Saints

On Tuesday, Becker closed out their Mississippi 8 Conference schedule with a trip to St. Francis.  

Becker jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the top of the first, as Hannah Bartlett had an RBI single and Brooke Hendrickson followed with a two-run single of her own.   

The Saints put together their biggest threat in the bottom of the second when they used a couple Bulldog mistakes to load the bases with one out, but Emma Eickhoff slammed the door with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.  

Becker added three more runs in the top of the third when they loaded the bases and Zerwas drew a walk to plate pinch runner Ashlyn Croal.  Maddie Sherman then came through with a two-out single to score two more runs and make it 6-0.  Neither team could muster much offense after that and Becker finished with the 6-0 win.

Offensively, Patnode, Bartlett, and Sherman each had two hits on the night.  Eickhoff picked up the win, going four innings and allowing two hits while walking two and striking out seven.  Patnode closed out the game with three innings of two-hit ball.  She didn’t walk a batter and struck out eight.

“We had a final tune-up against defending 4A state champion Maple Grove on Thursday before starting the playoffs with a likely home game on June 1st at 4:30,” Baune said.

Look for complete details in next week’s Patriot.