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  • Pat Christman Mankato Peppers left fielder Molly Card is one of two St. Peter players on the team’s roster this summer. Card singled and scored the team’s only run in the first game while Kassandra McCabe, the other St. Peter native, had three hits in the second game. Pat Christman

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June 21, 2012

Senior Peppers split doubleheader

Free Press Sports Editor

MANKATO — A late roster addition and a couple of players from St. Peter led the way for the Mankato Senior Peppers girls fastpitch team which split a doubleheader with the Minnesota Renegades at the Thomas Park Thursday.

The Peppers lost the first game 3-1 as Hailey Lundquist drilled a long, two-run homer over the left-field fence off Coley Ries in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie. Ries ended up losing the five-inning, five-hitter with nine strikeouts, one walk and giving up no earned runs.

Ries could have gotten out of the fifth before the two-run shot but an infield throwing error scored the Renegades’ first run and extended the frame.

“Coley had her usual strong performance,” Peppers head coach Jerry Maschka said. “She just got that one pitch up and the girl hit it out.”

St. Peter’s Molly Card had one of only two hits for the Peppers against right-hander Nikki Anderson. Card scored her team’s only run in the fourth inning when she ran to first after a missed third strike, was sacrificed to second by Ries and reached home on an infield throwing error.

“This is just a great opportunity for me,” Card said between games of playing with the Peppers. “It’s great to be on a team that plays at such a high level. I’ve played against some of these players before, and now I’m getting a chance to know them as teammates.”

In Game 2, Jen Larsen went the distance for Mankato in a 3-2, six-inning victory. The 15-year-old scattered eight hits, struck out four and gave up two earned runs without walking a batter.

“This winter we realized we needed another pitcher and we had some tryouts,” Maschka said. “(Jen) seemed to have the most potential of anybody who tried out and she’s already exceeded our expectations. She has a nice dead drop ball that makes it difficult for opposing batters to hit out of the park.”

Trailing 2-1, Mankato tied the game in the bottom of the fifth. Carolyn Osdoba led off with a single to right, Callie Looft advanced her by beating out a sacrifice bunt. Osdoba moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Dani Wagner’s infield grounder.

The Peppers scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth after loading the bases on a walk and consecutive base hits by Ries and Kassandra McCabe. Kenzie Franke followed with a grounder to short against the pulled-in infield but the throw home pulled the catcher’s foot off the bag, allowing pinch-runner Card to score the run.

McCabe, another St. Peter product, finished 3 for 3 with a run scored to lead Mankato’s 10-hit attack. Looft and Wagner added two hits apiece.

“These were two pretty good teams here today,” Maschka said. “You could see it was one mistake that decided both games.”

The Peppers (4-3-1) are back in action this weekend at an A.S.A Qualifier in Sioux Falls, S.D.

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