NORTH MANKATO — After a rough top of the sixth inning made Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial’s Class AA state semifinal game with St. Cloud Cathedral much more interesting, the resilient Knights erupted for four runs in the bottom of the inning to finish off an 8-3 victory Thursday at Caswell Park.
Leading 4-0 after five frames, LCWM (23-2) watched the Crusaders (23-3) tally three runs off relief pitcher Nettie Parsons to trim the margin to 4-3. Parsons left the game with runners on second and third base with two outs in the sixth. Senior right-hander Avery Voges returned to the circle to register the final out.
LCWM then made one final push behind sophomore Grace Thorson’s three-run blast well over the right-field fence to seal things in the bottom of the sixth. Junior right fielder Julia Montgomery and senior catcher Gillian Hanson also ripped hits in the stretch.
“We needed to bounce back after that bad inning,” Thorson said. “We’ve been in these situations before so we just needed to get the bats going and put the ball in play. That big inning gave us the momentum back and got our energy level back up. It was a higher pitch and it felt amazing when it went over.”
Voges, who ended up blanking the Crusaders on just one hit over 6 1/3 innings while striking out six and walking one, worked a 1-2-3 final inning to vault the Knights into Friday’s 2 p.m. championship clash with top-seeded Randolph, which beat St. Agnes 1-0 in the other semifinal.
“We got up early and then we had some adversity,” Voges said. “We really stayed strong and were able to come out with the win. I just came in there wanting to do my job and knew my teammates would be there for me.
“My curve ball was working well while my rise ball kind of struggled and for the most part my fastball was good. Our team is really good at bouncing back even if we’re down by a couple. Grace has been doing a great job for us out of the No. 9 spot. Her home run was huge. … This means a lot because we’ve got a lot of seniors who have been working hard for this for years.”
Voges retired 12 of the first 13 hitters before a barrage of bunts and some aggressive base running fueled a four-run, fourth-inning burst for the Knights. Parsons and senior center fielder Addie Ahern began things with bunt singles. Montgomery, who along with senior third baseman Ella Voges and Hanson, collected two hits in the contest then capped the scoring with an RBI single into center field.
“We knew we were going to have to play our A game,” Hanson said. “I think everyone in the lineup pulled through with hits as our whole lineup is capable of either getting a bunt down or getting hits to drive in runs for us.”
LCWM totaled nine hits in the game while the Crusaders totaled four.
“Our girls never cease to amaze me and that’s pretty cool,” Knights’ coach Tony Parsons said. “We felt we needed to make a change even though Avery was pitching pretty well. Nettie came in like yesterday, but they were on her so we had to go back to Avery. She stepped in and pounded the strike zone to get out of it.
“Avery is very steady so we knew if needed it, she could come back. Our entire batting order has the potential to hit the ball hard so it seems like each game somebody new steps up for us. Grace has been hot the last month or so and that one today was definitely a no-doubter. Bad things are going to happen both in life and in softball, so the key is how you bounce back and move on to the next play.”