Vermilion comes close to first ‘W’

The Vermilion Ironhawks were three outs away from their first win of the spring, but couldn’t quite finish thejob.

Minnesota West rallied with three runs in the top of the seventh to beat the community college softball team 6-5 in the opening game of a three-game nonconference set for the Ironhawks last weekend in Rochester.

Vermilion also fell 26-4 to Ridgewater and 16-2 to St. Cloud as part of the annual MCAC Crossover Classic, held in a domed facility in advance of the start of Northern Division play.

The Ironhawks, now 0-9, had Minnesota West on the ropes in their Good Friday clash but coach Aaron Bender said “Minnesota West did everything right in their half of the seventh getting runners on and getting runners in to take the 5-3 lead away from the Ironhawks.”

Vermilion put runners at second and third in the bottom of the frame, but couldn’t get the big hit to tie or win the contest.

The Ironhawks’ Destiny Gonzalez was two-forthree with two runs batted, in, while teammate Tatiana Whiting was two-for-three with an RBI.

Vermilion’s Hannah Simchak knocked in two runs while Josie Anderson pitched the complete game striking out seven and walking only one while yielding eight hits with four earned runs.

On Saturday, things got difficult for the Ironhawk. Their pitching was solid but the defense faltered with 14 errors in two games.

I feel that Josie and Kyla made some big strides in their pitching this week, we want them to allow the opponent to put the ball in play, and yes both St. Cloud and Ridgewater hit the ball well, but we need to make the routine plays, every extra out we give a team leads to a lot of extra runs,” said Bender.

Six different Ironhawks had two hits on the day. They were Simchak, Anderson, Lily Luzovich, Makenzie Drache, Avery Thiel and Kyla Berger.

Anderson scored three times while Drache, Simchak and Thiel all finished with two RBI.

In the circle, Anderson took the loss in the opening game and Berger was tagged with the loss in the nightcap. Both watched as opponents scored a slew of unearned runs.

“These girls are playing their hearts out, and I cannot be more proud of them,” said Bender. “As coaches and players we want wins, but wins do not always measure the gains a team has made.”

Next up for Vermilion softball is its “home” opener, which will take place Saturday, at noon, on artificial turf in Aurora. Hibbing is the scheduled opponent and the Ironhawks follow up with division action Wednesday at Mesabi.