Eagles to wrap up regular season against OTC

Photo by Chad Koenen
Kalyn Balbach connects with a pitch during a recent game in New York Mills.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

New York Mills picked up a thrilling 9-8 win over Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal on Thursday night. The game came on the heels of a pair of tough losses to Wadena-Deer Creek on Tuesday night in which the Eagles were able to get runners on base, but just weren’t able to get them around to score. 

This week, which is the final week of the regular season, the Eagles will travel to Browerville on Monday, host Parkers Prairie in a doubleheader on Tuesday, travel to Jackson for a tournament on Wednesday and wrap up their regular season on Thursday night against Otter Tail Central in Battle Lake. 

Tuesday

The Eagles dropped a pair to Wadena-Deer Creek on Tuesday night in a pair of close Park Region Conference games. 

In the first game of the night, the Wolverines took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, before NY Mills tied the game up at 2-2 in the top half of the second inning. WDC took the lead for good in the bottom of the third inning with 3 more runs to come away with the 5-3 win.

NY Mills outhit the Wolverines by a 6-2 margin with Kailey Keskitalo, Ayla Olson, Kali Olson, Annika Dunrud, Violet Radniecki and Kalyn Balbach each picking up a hit in the loss.

Keskitalo only surrendered 2 hits in the loos, but walked 8 hitters. She gave up just 3 earned runs and struck out 2 hitters.

In the second game of the night, the Eagles once again outhit the Wolverines by a 5-1 margin, but couldn’t overcome 5 errors to fall by a score of 2-1. 

WDC scored single runs in the first and fourth innings to take a 2-0 lead. NY Mills scored its lone run in the bottom of the fifth inning on a Kalyn Balbach RBI single to bring Keskitalo across the plate. 

Haley Korkowski Grace Brasel, Bella Huwe, Keskitalo and Balbach each picked up a hit in the loss. 

Dunrud took the loss on the mound as she pitched 1 inning and gave up 1 earned run and walked 2 hitters. Keskitalo pitched 6 innings in relief and gave up just 1 hit and 1 unearned run, while striking out 7 hitters. 

Thursday

NY Mills overcame 4 errors, which led to 5 unearned runs on its way to a thrilling 9-8 win on Thursday night. 

The Eagles scored runs in bunches on Thursday as they scored 3 runs in the bottom of the first inning, 2 in the bottom of the second and took the lead for good when they scored 4 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 9-3 lead. 

The Titans made a game of it late as they scored 3 runs in the top of the sixth inning and added 2 runs in the top of the seventh inning, but Kailey Keskitalo shut the door on Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal to come away with the 9-8 win. 

Keskitalo picked up the win by pitching all 7 innings and giving up 9 hits and just 3 earned runs, while striking out 5 hitters.

Kalyn Balbach led the way offensively with 3 hits, while Ayla Olson picked up a pair of singles. Grace Brasel and Bella Huwe each had a pair of RBIs in the win.

NYM vs. Norman County East

AB R H     BI

Haley Korkowski 3 2 1 0

Kalyn Balbach 4 2 3 1

Rosemary Laud. 0 0 0 0

Grace Brasel 2 1 1 2

Bella Huwe 3 0 0 2

Ayla Olson 4 1 2 1

Kailey Keskitalo 2 1 1 0

Annika Dunrud 2 0 0 0

Kali Olson 4 1 0 1

Kaitlyn Geiser 2 1 0 0

Kaylee Meech 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Grace Brasel

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Kailey Keskitalo 7.0-9-8-3-4-5

NYM vs. Wadena

AB R H     BI

Haley Korkowski 4 1 0 0

Kailey Keskitalo 4 0 1 1

Grace Brasel 3 0 0 0

Bella Huwe 3 0 0 0

Ayla Olson 2 1 1 0

Kali Olson 3 1 1 0

Annika Dunrud 3 0 1 0

Violet Radniecki 2 0 1 1

Kalyn Balbach 3 0 1 0

HITTING- 2B- Violet Radniecki, Kailey Keskitalo

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Kailey Keskitalo 6.0-2-5-3-8-2

NYM vs. Wadena

AB R H     BI

Haley Korkowski 3 0 1 0

Ayla Olson 3 0 0 0

Grace Brasel 3 0 1 0

Bella Huwe 3 0 1 0

Kali Olson 3 0 0 0

Kailey Keskitalo 3 1 1 0

Annika Dunrud 2 0 0 0

Violet Radniecki 2 0 0 0

Kaitlyn Geiser 0 0 0 0

Kalyn Balbach 2 0 1 1

Kaylee Meech 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- Hailey Korkowski, Kailey Keskitalo

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- Annika Dunrud 1.0-0-1-1-2-1, Kailey Keskitalo 6.0-1-1-0-0-7