NORTH MANKATO, Minn. - Red Lake Falls went from shut out to shutting out in a matter of hours here Thursday.
The Eagles' first appearance in the Minnesota Class A high school fastpitch softball tournament resulted in a 10-0 quarterfinal loss to New Ulm Cathedral. Red Lake Falls bounced back to beat Eden Valley-Watkins 6-0 in the consolation semifinals.
Red Lake Falls meets Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg at 9 a.m. today in the consolation championship.
New Ulm Cathedral scored single runs in the second and fourth innings, then broke the game open with six runs in the fifth.
"We were hanging right in there, then we misplayed a couple of balls in the fifth inning and things just snowballed on us,'' Red Lake Falls coach Ben Hanson said. "They're a good team. We would have had to have played a pretty solid game to have stuck with them.''
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New Ulm Cathedral had a 16-5 advantage in hits. Brianna Breiland was 2-for-3 to pace RLF.
Rachel Berdahl bounced back from taking the first-round loss to throw a two-hitter in the win against Eden Valley-Watkins. She struck out three.
"Rachel pitched really well (against Eden Valley-Watkins),'' Hanson said. "She never faced more than four batters in any inning. And we were hitting the ball all the way through our lineup.''
Red Lake Falls jumped ahead early with single runs in each of the first two innings and two more in the third. The 23-5 Eagles had an 11-2 advantage in hits, with Britta Glass, Molly Amberson and Jenna Nelson each getting to hits to lead the way. Amberson and Nelson each drove in a pair of runs.
