With a sword raised high in triumph, New Ulm’s famous “Hermann the German” statue, the city's symbol, looked down upon the Cleveland girls season opener on Friday. Baptism by fire, the Clippers were facing New Ulm Cathedral, last year’s state champions .
But riding the arm of Delaney Thompson and with Taylor McCabe’s first career homer as the game winner, it was the Clippers who prevailed, upsetting the Greyhounds 3-2.
“We knew we were coming in facing the reigning state champs,” said first-year head coach Rich Kern. “The expectation was to give 100 percent and see what happens. But the girls have been really working hard. We’ve been focusing on hitting.”
And the batting practice worked. Besides McCabe’s homer, which came in the first, the Clippers collected seven other hits. Meanwhile, Thompson, who went the distance in the circle, befuddled the Greyhounds, limiting them to just two hits and three walks while striking out six.
It was a stellar performance by the sophomore, especially considering the opponent, that she missed all last season with a torn ACL and that she threw in unseasonable 80-degree temperature.
“She really surprised me today with all the pitches she had, just her endurance,” Kern said.
All the Clipper runs came in the first inning. Leading off, Thompson singled but got caught stealing. Up next, senior speedster Ava Hahn laid down a bunt single and scored when sophomore Keira Schipper made it to second on a shortstop error. With the Clippers continuing to put the ball in play, sophomore Kaitlyn Flowers flew out to the shortstop before McCabe, also a sophomore, bashed a two-run homer over the left field fence for a 3-0 Clipper lead.
The Greyhounds responded right away. The leadoff batter took advantage of an infield error, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on another Clipper infield error. They pulled within one run in the third when a single with an outfield miscue put the leadoff runner on third. She crossed home plate on a ground out.
But that was it for scoring. The Greyhounds had a single in the third for their only other hit. The Clipper defense, solid behind Thompson, only committed one more error.
“It was nerve-racking, but I knew I had to trust my teammates behind me, just throwing it in there and trusting my team,” Thompson said. “Between my fastball and my change up, and I threw in my curve a little bit, which has a lot of spin on it, that worked a lot. The ump was calling it outside, so I tried to throw outside. I saw that they were swinging up high, so I tried to throw it up there.”
She said the temperature didn’t bother her.
“I actually felt pretty good. I was surprised being I hadn’t pitched a whole game for a long time, so I was glad I was able to push through. It was good our offense started hot in the first inning, and our defense picked it up the rest of the game.”
Only striking out twice, once swinging and once looking and accepting no walks, the Clippers kept the ball in play and had five more hits after the first inning. Anna Lamont hit an infield single in the first. Going 3-3 in the outing, McCabe singled into centerfield in the fourth and sent a grounder up the middle for another hit in the sixth. Mollie Bowman dropped a hit into right field to lead off the fifth. Jocelyn Kortuem, who had subbed in for Bowman at first base, hit a bouncer down the first-base line in the seventh for an infield single.
In their 11-13 season last year, much of the Clipper offense came from the big bats of seniors Cassandra Connor and Laci Hollerich while Flowers, in the absence of Thompson, was thrust into the number-one pitcher slot.
But Schipper had the most hits for the Clippers (37) and, behind Connor, their second highest batting average. In her rookie year, Flowers had 21 hits, including four doubles and a homer.
Other seniors on the 2024 team were Greta Hahn, who had 14 hits and led the team in base stealing with 21 stolen bases, and Lilly Lamont, who had 14 hits, including two triples and a grand slam. In the circle, she struck out 57.
Thompson said getting a big victory right away sets the tone for the Clippers.
“It’s exciting. It shows our team we actually have potential. We lost a few seniors last year; we’re a young team, but we have the ability to do it. I think we could do a lot of big things.”
Schipper caught for Thompson. At third was Lamont. Flowers had the shortstop role. Taylor McCabe set up between first and second base. The outfielders were Lacey McCabe in left, Hahn in center and Taylor Wolf in right.
Above: Taylor McCabe funnels in a NUC grounder.
