GILMAN SOFTBALL - Pirates get solid work in at Stillwater

GILMAN SOFTBALL

Other than wins, the Gilman Pirates got most of what they hoped to achieve in their softball season-opening trip to the Stillwater Dome Friday.

In two games shortened by a time limit, the Pirates lost to a much bigger school, North Branch, Minn. 10-7 in their first game. They had a lead in game two with Cumberland but couldn’t hold it and fell 12-9.

“Everybody got playing time, we played some pretty respectable teams, definitely some schools bigger than us and we had a blast doing it,” Gilman head coach Brian Phelps said.

In game one, Gilman faced a North Branch team that was coming off a state tournament appearance last spring in Minnesota’s Class AAA. It is a high school of about 850 students.

But the Pirates more than held their own, tying the game in the bottom of the first inning on Abby Chaplinski’s threerun home run. The Pirates trailed 6-5 after two innings. North Branch used a couple of costly two-out errors to build a 10-5 lead in the top of the fourth. Gilman had a rally going in the bottom half, but ran into the time limit and the game ended with the Pirates still down by three.

The Pirates had seven hits in the loss. Scarlett Stuner, who also pitched for Gilman, was two for two with a sacrifice bunt. Kenlyn Kroeplin was two for two and scored a run. Kayleigh James was one for three with a double, a walk and two runs scored out of the leadoff spot. Chaplinski was one for three with her homer. Lila Altamirano was one for two with a walk and two runs scored out of the eight-spot. Averie Olynick walked and scored a run.

“They hit the ball well, they hit it hard and played defense well, but we did the same,” Phelps said.

Against Cumberland, Gilman used a four-run second inning and five-run top of the third to build a 9-4 lead, but the Beavers put together an eight-run rally to pull ahead. The long inning put that game up against the time limit, ending it after three innings. Stuner again got the start in the circle and Phelps said she simply ran out of gas in her first outing of the season. Freshman Norah Noonan got her first pitches at the varsity level and eventually picked up two strikeouts late in the third.

Offensively, Gilman continued to swing the bats well. James was two for three with a double and a run scored. Kroeplin had a hit, drew two walks and scored a run. Chaplinski had a hit, a walk and a run scored. Raygen Soper and Alison Krizan hit doubles. Krizan scored twice. Mylie Stephens had a hit and a walk. Altamirano singled and Olynick had a hit, got hit by a pitch and scored twice.

“The bottom four in our order scored six runs, so that was nice production from the bottom of our order,” Phelps said. “Everybody was happy with how we swung the bats and putting the bat on the ball.”

Gilman is scheduled to get outside Saturday with games in Poynette against Wild Rose at 10 a.m. and Augusta at 2 p.m. A non-conference road trip to Cadott is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Monday.