“It will be huge to get the next game, because going in 2-0, it relieves a little pressure going into Saturday, but it also brings momentum for us,” YME’s Alana Almich said. “We want to get this second one, but it feels good to win big right away.”

The Sting earned the top seed in the North subsection after finishing the regular season 16-5 overall. The Sting made a deep run to last season’s section tournament, one win away from the section semifinals, but suffered a loss to eventual-section champion Wabasso and then Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian in the elimination bracket.

Wabasso again earned the top seed in the South subsection this year.

Bayli Sneller again had two strong performances in the pitching circle to help lead the Sting. She finished the day with a total of 11 strikeouts, nine of which came in game 2.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East's Bayli Sneller throws a pitch against Ortonville in the Section 3A North Tournament first round on Tuesday in Granite Falls.

Along with celebrating the two wins, the team also showered Sneller with some additional love and cupcakes for her birthday.

“It [the wins] feel really good. I think together as a team, we get along really well, and we all just know that we have each other’s backs,” Sneller said.

YME had a handful of offensive highlights on the day. Brianna Nelson had five hits between the two games, while Almich had a double in each. Emma Keller had a big performance in the second game, going 2 for 4 with three runs, one triple and a double.

Sneller pitched a one-hitter shutout in game 1 through her four innings in the circle, with a pair of strikeouts and one walk. Keller came in for relief for the final inning to help give Sneller some rest ahead of game 2, and didn’t allow any hits with one walk.

Sneller then tossed nine strikeouts in the following matchup, allowing two walks and six hits in her complete-game.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East's Bayli Sneller (right) and Kourtney Peterson (left) smile with one another after defeating MACCRAY in the Section 3A North Tournament second round on Tuesday in Granite Falls.

YME (19-5) will now head to Marshall’s softball complex to face second-seeded BOLD on Saturday at 11 a.m. The Warriors defeated Lac qui Parle Valley 13-0 and Benson 9-6 on Tuesday.

BOLD was one of the Sting’s five regular-season losses, as YME came up just short 4-2 on April 24.

“I think we need to hit the ball,” Almich said regarding what the team needs to do continuing through the playoffs. “Hit the ball and put the ball into play. We do great on defense, so I think as long as we hit the ball, continue to move runners over and do that, we will be fine. Get on [base] for each other.”

Kourtney Peterson also said it will be important for the team to remember playing at a high level, and controlling the factors they can.

For YME’s three seniors in Sneller, Ella Cherveny and Almich, Tuesday also marked the final time the trio played on their home field in Granite Falls, to which Sneller noted as a “bitter-sweet” feeling.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East's Emma Keller safely slides into home to score a run against MACCRAY in the Section 3A North Tournament second round on Tuesday in Granite Falls.

GAME 1

No. 1 YME 11, No. 8 Ortonville 0 (5 inn.)

YME got right to business with a pair of runs in the opening inning, tacking on five runs in the second inning and controlling the pace of the game the rest of the way.

After opening the game with a quick trio of outs between a Sneller strikeout and two Sting infield plays, Nelson and Elayna Kling accounted for the team’s first two runs in their first plate appearance in the bottom of the first.

The energy in the Sting dugout was high and contagious straight away, cheering one another on to get the bats going quickly.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East's Everra Leenerts makes a diving catch at shortstop against Ortonville in the Section 3A North Tournament first round on Tuesday in Granite Falls.

“We are a goofy group, I would say,” Almich said, laughing. “Once someone gets energy, it all kind of bounces off each other. That first hit we get, the energy just gets going.”

Sneller also added that the team strives to start off strong right away, citing that “When you start high, you just keep going.”

Nelson had the first hit of the day with a line-drive single to left-center field, and put herself in scoring position following Sneller and Cherveny singles. Kling courtesy ran for Sneller.

With bases loaded and Nelson on third, Keller was hit by a pitch to allow Nelson to score. Kling then ran home shortly after on a passed ball before the Trojans could wrap up the final outs.

The hits kept coming as the Sting put together a rally in the second inning for another five runs to build their lead up to 7-0.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East's Ella Cherveny lays down a successful bunt against MACCRAY in the Section 3A North Tournament second round on Tuesday in Granite Falls.

Charlotte Paslawski got things started with a walk and quickly stole second, and got to third with a sacrifice hit from Everra Leenerts. Paslawski then charged home on a passed ball.

Peterson sent a line drive to left field and stole second as well, as the Sting strategically amped up their baserunning aggressiveness.

“I feel like in practice, we did a lot to prepare for these pitchers, which really helped,” Peterson said.

After taking to third base on a passed ball, Peterson scored on an RBI single from Nelson.

Nelson was out at second following an infield base hit from Sneller, for whom Kling came in as a courtesy runner. Kling scored with the help of a big RBI double on a fly ball to right-center field from Almich.

Almich sported a wide smile while running back to the dugout as Evi Jimenez came in to courtesy run for the full-time catcher, and Jimenez wasn’t in the field for long as a single from Cherveny helped send her home.

“It was good to start off with a big hit like that in the playoffs,” Almich said. “It’s fun when I get one of the little ones to run for me.”

Ortonville committed a throwing error on Cherveny’s hit, which allowed her to get to third base and for Jimenez to score on the same error.

Cherveny continued to take advantage of the error, scoring the final run of the inning on a passed ball.

Ortonville was called twice for leading off the base too early in the top of the third to help return YME back to the plate quickly, as the Sting added three more runs to officially put the score in mercy-rule territory, 10-0.

Notably, Leenerts had a handful of impressive defensive plays at shortstop throughout the opening game, including a diving catch in the second inning.

The Sting officially put an end to the first game in the top of the fifth with three big infield plays. Keller fielded a ball in the pitcher’s circle and tossed to one, just as Peterson did the same from

third base directly after, and a diving catch at second base from Paslawski secured the final out.

“They [our defense] have grown a lot. They are always on their toes, ready,” Almich said. “Sometimes, it gets a little quiet with Bayli pitching, because she does really good in the circle, but they do good staying high and being ready for anything. A lot of times, there could be an inning where they don’t get a ball, and then the next, they get like five right at them. They do a good job of always staying in the game.”

The Sting also closed the regular season with an 11-0 win in five innings against Ortonville last Thursday.

BOX SCORE

BATTING

K. Peterson: 2-3, 2R, RBI; B. Nelson: 2-3, R, RBI; B. Sneller: 1-3, 2R; A. Almich: 1-3, R, RBI; E. Cherveny: 1-3, R; E. Keller: 1-2, R, RBI; C. Schmitz: 1-2, R, RBI, BB; C. Paslawski: 1-2, 2R, BB.

PITCHING

B. Sneller: 4 IP, 2 SO, H, BB; E. Keller: 1 IP, BB.

GAME 2

YME 14, MACCRAY 5

The second game of YME’s saw a defensively competitive start through the first three innings, allowing just one run by the Sting in the second before they quickly turned things around in their favor with fourth and sixth-inning six-run rallies.

Facing a 7-0 deficit, the Wolverines put together a fight of their own and momentarily flustered YME defensively with five runs in the top of the sixth to cut the score down to three runs, 8-5.

Yet, the Sting didn’t waste any time in finding a response and quickly built back up its advantage to hang on for the win.

“Even if we go down, I feel like we are really good at picking each other back up,” Peterson said. “We’re like, ‘OK, next one, here we go.'”

Keller had a big RBI triple on a line drive to right field to run home Carley Redepenning to get the Sting momentum started back up. Redepenning was courtesy running for Sneller, as Sneller reached base on a MACCRAY error with an infield fly.

Keller scored on an Almich single, while Cherveny followed behind off a Paslawski single as well. Cherveny had a successful bunt to reach base.

Paslawski accounted for the next run as Peterson stepped to the plate and hit a two-run RBI single on a fly ball to center field to send home both Chasity Schmitz and Leenerts to take back the 14-5 lead, ultimately becoming the final score. Schmitz and Leenerts each had base hits.

“We just needed to take a deep breath,” Sneller said regarding MACCRAY’s comeback attempt. “We say, ‘So what, now what?’ Like, so what that happened, what do we do next?”

Through the strong defensive start, the Wolverines and Sting each hit a double early in the game, with YME’s coming from Nelson in the bottom of the first. Yet, the two defenses cleaned up the rest of the frames.

But, YME still found a way to get on board with a run in the second inning as Keller scored off an Almich RBI double on her first pitch with a fly ball to left field.

Keller initially got on base with a leadoff double, also on a fly ball to left field right before Almich.

YME and MACCRAY traded outs over the next three half-innings before the Sting once again got their bats going in the bottom of the fourth.

“I would say experience-wise, everybody has played their spot for a few years,” Sneller said about the Sting’s defense. “I think everybody is gaining confidence in their spot.”

Kling scored the first run of the rally on a passed ball, as she was courtesy running for Sneller who hit a leadoff line-drive single. Keller scored shortly after with a successful Cherveny bunt.

Cherveny also got the second base on her bunt when MACCRAY attempted to throw Keller out at home, and Cherveny eventually got home on a passed ball.

Nelson hit a two-run RBI single to left field to run in both Paslawski and Schmitz, while a Sneller fly-ball double to center field, which the Wolverines dropped, allowed Leenerts enough time to score the final run of the inning for the 7-0 Sting lead. Paslawski, Schmitz and Leneerts all walked to reach base.

In the end after taking back its comfortable lead in the sixth, YME put an end to the night in MACCRAY’s finat at-bat with a Leenerts’ jumping line-drive catch at shortstop, a Peterson foul-ball catch outside the third-base line and one final strikeout from Sneller.

The Wolverines defeated No. 5 Renville County West/Central Minnesota Christian 2-0 in the first round to face YME in the second. The Sting also defeated the Wolverines 13-0 in the regular season on April 30 in five innings on the road.

BOX SCORE

BATTING

K. Peterson: 1-5, 2RBI; B. Nelson: 3-5, 2RBI; B. Sneller: 2-5, 2R, RBI; E. Keller: 2-4, 3R, RBI; A. Almich: 2-3, R, 2RBI; E. Cherveny: 2-2, 2R, RBI; C. Paslawski: 1-3, 2R, 2RBI, BB; C. Schmitz: 1-2, 2R, 2BB, RBI; E. Leenerts: 1-3, 2R, BB.

PITCHING

B. Sneller: 7 IP, 9 SO, 6H, 4ER, 2BB.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East's Charlotte Paslawski catches an infield fly ball against Ortonville in the Section 3A North Tournament first round on Tuesday in Granite Falls.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East's Emma Keller eyes down a pitch against Ortonville in the Section 3A North Tournament first round on Tuesday in Granite Falls.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East third baseman Charlotte Paslawski throws to first for an out after fielding the ball against MACCRAY in the Section 3A North Tournament second round on Tuesday in Granite Falls.