By Kerry Rodd
Up-and-down 'Jacks knock out Bombers
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Dave Harwig
Cloquet's Morgan Olesiak slides into second base safe with a stolen base during Monday's softball game with Barnum in Cloquet. The Lumberjacks got a big win, 14-0.
After going 1-2 last weekend at a tournament in Becker, the Cloquet softball team returned to local play Monday with a 14-0 win at home against Barnum. Barnum was the home team, but had to play in Cloquet because the Bombers field is still unplayable.
"Our field has been a problem for a while now," said Barnum coach Dusty Collelo. "We haven't played a home game yet. Our field is mostly clay and doesn't drain well, so we have had to play all of our games on the road."
Monday's game was played at Braun Park in Cloquet and the Lumberjacks wasted little time in jumping out to a big lead. Cloquet scored four in the first inning, added five more in the second and then tacked on four more runs in the third inning to gain a 13-0 advantage through three innings.
"The girls played well and it was a nice team win for us," said Cloquet coach Tyler Korby.
"They continue to make strides each game and it was just a well-balanced effort."
Cloquet sophomore centerfielder Morgan Olesiak had an impressive game, going 3-for-3 at the plate and nearly hit for the cycle. She finished with a triple, a double and a single as the leadoff batter for the 'Jacks.
"Morgan stepped up and had a fantastic day," Korby said. "She has good speed and is an ideal lead-off hitter."
Cloquet also got two-hit nights from Roena Diver, Blythe Proulx, Josie Lindstrom and Lilly Witte. Diver added a double with a pair of runs scored, Proulx and Lilly also each scored twice.
Alizondra Collelo was coming off a no-hitter against Ogilvie last week, but she and her defense struggled to hold down the offensive firepower of the Lumberjacks.
Dave Harwig
Cloquet's Rylie Goranson pitches during Monday's game.
"We can play well, but defensively we can be up and down and we struggled making some plays against Cloquet," said coach Collelo. "We are really young and we need to get that 'dog' mentality, and right now the girls are still learning that. It really took the wind out of our sails when they went up 9-0 in the first two innings."
Sophomore Allie Jones started pitching for Cloquet, going three innings, striking out two and walking one while giving up one hit in picking up the win. Rylie Goranson pitched the final two innings for the 'Jacks and finished with one walk and gave up one hit.
The win improved the Lumberjacks record to 7-4, while the loss dropped Barnum's record to 4-6.
