MANKATO — It was a memorable day for Mankato East senior pitcher Kylinn Stangl as the top-ranked and two-time defending Class AAA champion Cougars downed Owatonna 9-3 Tuesday in a Big Nine Conference game at Thomas Park.
Not only did Stangl reach base safely four times, the hard-throwing right-hander surpassed the 500 career strikeout mark by fanning 14 Huskies. Stangl, who allowed seven hits and two walks, banged out three hits and drove in four runs as the Cougars improved to 4-0 both overall and in the Big Nine.
“It was a really good team effort,” Stangl said. “I’ve said it before that I can’t do it without my teammates. They’ve helped me out through all the highs and lows. I am not one for pitching in the cold so when our game got canceled yesterday I was ready to go today. It was fun to get out in a little warmer weather.
“We’re a team that can hit and we do it everyday at practice. We always put in the hard work and the offense helps us spark the momentum for our defense. That really pushes me and then they back me up with offense. I am more of a low ball pitcher and I was a little wild today but it worked out to my advantage with the strike zone. I managed to work with it and getting the 500 strikeouts means I can only go up from here.”
Owatonna (3-3) wasted lead-off singles in each of the first two innings — Keeliana Doran and Preslee Hodgman — before the Cougars plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the second behind junior left fielder Ella Hudspeth’s single and two Huskie miscues. East expanded the margin to 5-0 an inning later when Stangl, senior first baseman Jayda Swalve and junior shortstop Emily Hacker ripped run-scoring singles.
Senior center fielder Madeline Beaty chipped in a hit and scored a run in the surge before junior third baseman Ella Fugazzi’s fourth-inning single set up Stangl’s towering two-run shot over the center field fence. Hacker, who ended up with two hits and two runs scored, added a single up the middle while Beaty reached on an error in the fifth and scored on Stangl’s bounder up the middle.
“We came up to the plate with confidence and were able to hit throughout our lineup,” Hacker said. “We’ve got a tremendous defense and Kylinn and Harper (Stangl) are working really good together as a sister duo. We’re figuring things out and getting better every game. There’s a lot of communication going on out there and we’re executing on what we’ve been practicing. … We’re humble and know we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Owatonna scored a run in the fourth and two runs in the fifth as freshman Ava Fischer smacked a run-scoring double and a lost-in-the-sun RBI triple. East finished with 10 hits and left six runners on base.
“We made some nice plays defensively and Kylinn came up with 14 strikeouts,” East coach Joe Madson said. “She wasn’t as sharp as she can be, but she made it tough on them with her velocity. I thought we swung the bats well even though we didn’t play as much small ball as we like to. We were able to move the ball consistently so that was nice to see.”
East plays Friday at Maple Grove.