Above, shortstop Halle McCabe stretches for a grounder. She came up with the ball and looked towards first before throwing to third, where Brianna Connor seemed to have tagged the runner coming back, but everyone was safe.
Emily Kern snuck a seventh-inning drive between third and the Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial shortstop for the only Cleveland hit against the visiting Knights on Friday.
Behind the arm of senior ace Jacie Schultz and with 13 hits, the Knights won 11-0. They are 15-1 on the season with their only loss to Belle Plaine, 4-3.
The Clippers have faced Schultz over the years, including when they swept the Conference three years ago, but she has progressed since then, said head coach Dan Fredrickson, both with speed and control.
“I’ve been doing this for nine years, and I’ve never been on the field for a pitcher who throws that hard. She’s comparable to a college pitcher. She keeps the ball low and then goes up inside.”
Running for Kern, Geta Hahn reached second when the Knight second baseman bobbled a Halle McCabe grounder and took third on the throw to first. McCabe, who was safe on the fielder’s choice, made the easy steal, but the next two Clippers struck out, and Schultz, although missed a no-hitter, preserved a shutout.
With a walk in the fifth, Kaylee Karels was the only other Clipper to get on base. They struck out 16 times. Nicole McCabe, Karels and Cassandra Connor were the only other Clippers to put the ball in play.
“It was nice to see that kind of pitching now,” Fredrickson said, “so when you face the New Ulm Cathedral pitcher or the Nicollet pitcher, we’re not intimidated. We’ve seen the best of the best today.”
The Clippers committed four errors but twisted three double plays, including one in the sixth when Nicole McCabe chucked a ball that had landed into left field to Brianna Connor at third for a force out. Connor relayed to Taylin Gosch at second for another force out.
Kern threw all seven innings. She struck out three, walked five and beaned two.
“We had a missed play with a run down. We had a missed play with our pump fake,” Fredrickson said. ”We dropped a few bunts…just a few miss plays here and there where I thought we should have gotten out of the inning. We need to be a little bit cleaner…just some mental things.”
With two outs in the top of the seventh, seniors Macey Ziebarth, Brianna Connor, Nicole McCabe and Halle McCabe had a ceremonial walk off the field in what was their last scheduled home game.
The Clippers travel to Truman on Tuesday for a 5:30 game against Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman. The Jaguars are 1-7 in the Valley Conference.
Center fielder Macey Ziebarth completed this running catch.
Right fielder Nicole McCabe came up with a catch near the foul line to get the Clippers out of a bases loaded situation in the third.
Brianna Connor fields a grounder to third.