The Worthington Trojans and Waseca Bluejays played a see-saw game two of their softball doubleheader Monday in Worthington, with Waseca coming out on top in the bottom of the seventh and earning a 12-11 victory and a sweep of both contests.
Bailey Ponto singled in the first inning and scored on a base hit from Katy Welch for a 1-0 WHS edge in the nightcap. After the Bluejays tied it at 1 in the bottom of the first, Ponto’s RBI single made it 2-1 in the second. Hannah McNab and Brooklyn Bretzman both crossed the plate on wild pitches in the third to put the Trojans ahead 4-1, but Emma Williamson’s two-run single for Waseca in the fourth made it a 4-3 game.
The fifth inning was a lengthy one. The Trojans pushed four runs across for an 8-3 advantage, with Meliessa Espada Flores contributing an RBI single and Grace Dickman a run-scoring double. The Bluejays, however, answered with six in the bottom of the fifth on just three hits to move ahead 9-8. Williamson had another two-run single in the inning.
McNab blasted a two-run homer over the right-field fence in the sixth to make it 10-9, WHS, but McKyla Hasselquist launched a two-run homer of her own to straight-center for an 11-10 score heading in to the seventh. Ponto tripled with one out and scored on a Maddie Peterson single to tie it up, but Riley Ruedy’s long fly to left-center in the bottom half of the inning dropped and scored the winning run.
Ponto pitched the entire game two for the Trojans, who are now 1-5 this season. WHS was defeated in the first game, 10-0, in five innings.
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The Worthington Trojans girls golf team placed second in a multi-team meet in Pipestone on Monday. Redwood Valley was first at 185 strokes, with the Trojans second at 206. Also competing as teams were Marshall and Luverne.
Recording the lowest round on the day for Worthington was senior Mia Nixon, who carded a 49. Also posting scoring rounds for the Trojans were senior Lilly Mahlberg at 50, junior Madison Beckmann at 52 and senior Ellie Weg at 55.
In boys play, Marshall came out on top in a six-team field with 153 strokes, just one ahead of Luverne. The Trojans placed fifth with a team total of 174.
Marshall’s Luke Ehlers and Luverne’s Henry Hartquist tied for medalist honors with rounds of 35. Greyson Elder of Windom Area was next at 36. For WHS, junior Logan Powers had the lowest round at 38, which tied him for fourth overall with Owen Sudenga of Luverne.
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Visiting Pipestone Area topped Worthington 8-2 in baseball action Monday at the Worthington Middle School field.
Cooper McCoy had a triple and single for the Trojans and scored one of the two Worthington runs. Ethan Meyer had a pair of base hits. Tucker Brandner contributed a double and scored the other Trojan run. The lone Worthington RBI was credited to Triston Sauerbrei.
McCoy also pitched well for the Trojans Monday, throwing three shutout innings in relief while walking one and striking out one.
