Oakville Softball Falls in First Round of Districts

The 2010 Oakville softball team played the maximum amount of games in the post-season, culminating in a Class 4 state championship.

The 2011 Tiger squad played the minimum amount of games falling to Northwest 6-5 in the semifinals of the Class 4 District 2 Tournament Thursday at Oakville. The Tigers were the top seed in the district and had received a first round bye.

"We gave up four unearned runs and we had a couple of base running mistakes," Oakville coach Rich Sturm said. "We made more mistakes but I don't want to take anything away from Northwest. They have been playing well and they played better than we did. They hit better, they executed better and they made more plays."

Much of the action Thursday was reserved for what proved to be the final inning of the 2011 Oakville season.

Northwest had jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning off Oakville pitcher Jordan Michalski. The freshman settled down after the first and held Northwest scoreless for the next five innings.

Oakville had a pair of one-run innings and the score was tied 2-2 going into the seventh inning. That is when the fireworks began for both teams.

Northwest scored four unearned runs in the top of the inning but Oakville made things quite interesting in the bottom of the seventh.

Junior Rachel McNamara, who had a breakout offensive season for the Tigers, had a hit and two other Tiger batters reached on hit batsmen to load the bases with nobody out.

Michalski followed with a two-run single to narrow the deficit to 6-4. Lexie Klable drove in another run with a single and the Tigers were within a run with runners on first and second still with nobody out.

The momentum seemed to be with the Tigers but they were also at the bottom of their batting order. Oakville failed to execute a bunt, which may have been the biggest play of the game.

"It's not just the fact that you may have had runners on second and third," Sturm said. "But you also put pressure on the defense and anything could have happened."

The runners would eventually stay on first and second as the Tigers ended the season with a pop-out and a strikeout looking.

"It was a disappointing loss, but unlike last year when we had a senior-laden team and a lot of expectations, this was a very young team," Sturm said. "I started a freshman at pitcher, third base and shortstop and our No. 1, 5, 7 and 8 hitters were either freshmen or sophomores. We graduate just four seniors, two of whom started in districts. Hopefully, these young players learn from this game and we can be better."

Oakville finished the season with a 16-5 record. Northwest won for the fifth time in a row and improved to 13-11. The Lions advanced to Friday's district championship game against Seckman, who defeated Lindbergh by the same 6-5 score in the other semifinal Thursday.