Experience is paying off for the Langdon-Munich baseball team, even though the Cardinals have a young roster.
Langdon-Munich is off to a 7-5 start, already exceeding the win total of the 2015 season when the Cardinals finished 4-13. Success has come with only three seniors and no juniors on the team.
"We played a bunch of freshmen last year,'' L-M coach Josh Krivarchka said. "That's getting real young. It's hard to compete when you're playing so many freshmen. They've matured a lot from their freshmen to their sophomore year.
"I wouldn't necessarily call how we're doing a surprise. I thought we had the potential to be better. What I didn't know was if it would happen this year or next year. I'm happy with how quickly it has developed.''
The lone seniors are Erik Aanderud, Tristan Klingenberg and Jace Ramberg.
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Sophomores Jacob Delvo (.360) and Anfernee Economy (.333) and Aanderud (.333) lead the offense, with the other two seniors both hitting .296. Aanderud, Delvo and sophomore Brayden Harder are the top three pitchers.
Defense is where the Cardinals stand out, Krivarchka said. That defense is led up the middle by shortstop/center fielder Delvo, shortstop Harder and sophomore catcher Connor Tetrault.
"We've played really well defensively,'' Krivarchka said. "We make plays and we don't kick the ball around too much. Our pitchers aren't overpowering types. They throw strikes and we've been making plays behind them. We make teams earn their runs.''
Burros have big offense
Hillsboro-Central Valley is running up a big offense one base at a time.
The Burros' fastpitch softball team is 8-2 and only once has been held to less than 10 runs in a game, that a 15-5 defeat to Grafton and Megan Osowski, its all-state pitcher. Hillsboro-CV averages 14.3 runs a game.
"We don't hit a lot of doubles, triples and home runs,'' said H-CV coach Cory Erickson, whose team's 142-hit total includes only 33 for extra bases. "It's mostly singles and we have enough speed to get the runners around.''
The Burros don't start a senior and only one junior, pitcher Caitlyn Stuart. Otherwise, it is six sophomores and two freshmen in the regular batting lineup.
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That group includes six players with a .500-or-better batting averages, sophomores Laura Spurgeon (.575, team-leading 10 extra-base hits), Tayah Beck (.536), Hannah Buzick (.533), Karlee Johnson (.517) and Janessa Ackerman (.500) and freshman MacKenzie Iverson (.514).
"We have a really good group of sophomores,'' Erickson said. "They play throughout the summer. They don't do anything too fancy. They get the ball on the ball and they're aggressive on the bases.
"With the talent these girls have and seeing how hard they work every day, I guess it isn't a big surprise to see how well they're doing.''
RLC speedster
Zoe Russillo is giving Red Lake County a shot of speed.
The freshman, who was runner-up in the 100 at last season's Minnesota Section 8A track meet, has broken a 13-year-old program record in the 100 this spring. Her time of 12.58 seconds is in the top 10 on the state honor roll on the website www.raceberryjam.com . She's also closing in on the RLC record in the 200 of 26.7 seconds; Russillo has run a 27.1. That has her just outside the top 10 on the statewide honor roll.
"We thought she'd have a good year,'' RLC coach Randy Huie said. "But it's a surprise to see her get some of those marks, especially this early in the season.''
Russillo is the team's top scorer on the track. That's a change from RLC teams in the past.
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"Distance runners have been our forte,'' Huie said. "We've had a few good hurdlers and kids in the field events. The sprints haven't been a strong area for us for awhile.
"But Zoe has a lot of pure speed, natural speed. She's also goal driven. She's a real competitor. I can see her dropping more time this year.''
