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The Vermilion softball team’s playoff hopes are fading after four straight home defeats.
After spending the entire season away from home, the Ironhawks were finally able to get on to the home turf in Ely, both over the weekend and again on Monday.
But visiting Northland broke open two very competitive games late and scored a 7-1, 10-4 sweep on Saturday.
Mesabi was more dominant Monday, defeating the Ironhawks 10-0 and 11-1 in two five-inning affairs.
Vermilion fell to 2-10 in division games and 2-17 overall.
While the Ironhawks struggled against Mesabi, they gave Northland a run for its money in both of Saturday’s tilts. “The final scores of each game may have shown a bit of a gap in the score, but game one was a one-run game until the seventh, and game two was a two-run game until the seventh,” said head coach Aaron Bender. “We battled again this weekend, but in each game, we just had the one bad inning. We cannot give any team extra outs in any portion of the game. Our pitchers are throwing strikes and we need to back that up with defense behind them.”
Sophomore Josie Anderson went the distance in Saturday’s opening game, yielding eight hits with five strikeouts and only three earned runs.
Libby Korpi had the strong bat going two-forfour, while Mackenzie Drache doubled in a run and Destiny Gonzalez also added a double.
VERMILIION’S Aubrea Smieja throws the ball across the field from third to first base. Photos by Parker Loew.
Pitcher for Vermilion, Kyla Berger, steps into a pitch during the second inning of a home game last week.
Libby Korpi swings at a pitch in the second inning.
Kyla Berger started on the mound in the nightcap, working five innings and striking out three with four earned runs. Anderson finished up.
Anderson and Berger also paced the Vermilion offense, with Anderson ripping three hits including two doubles with three runs batted in. Berger was two-for-three.
Lillian Luzovich added two hits with two runs scored and Korpi contributed a run-scoring double.
Mesabi’s Hailey Greenly fired a two-hit shutout in Monday’s opening game, fanning eight batters.
The Norse broke open a tight game with nine runs in the top of the fourth, taking advantage of numerous walks.
Anderson and Berger had Vermilion’s only hits and Mesabi had just two hits in the contest.
Greenly fanned eight and held Vermilion to three hits in the second game, and former Ely Timberwolf Madeline Kallberg scored twice and had a hit for the winners.
Korpit singled and scored Vermilion’s only run.
