Photo by Jake McNeill: Minneota/Canby second baseman Dakota Pesch slides into home plate during the sixth inning of a softball game against Dawson-Boyd on Thursday in Minneota. The Vikings defeated the Blackjacks 3-0.

MINNEOTA — After falling shy in pitcher’s duels in each of its previous four games, the Minneota/Canby softball team got back on track Thursday night. The Vikings and Dawson-Boyd were locked in a scoreless battle before a sixth-inning rally gave Minneota/Canby a 3-0 victory.

“I didn’t know what to expect, I just hoped our bats would come alive. And they didn’t come alive until the very end there, so we’re hoping that continues,” Minneota/Canby head coach Heidi Louwagie said. “We’ve got to relax. I think we step into the box and we’re just overthinking everything and they just need to chill because it’s killing them. They can hit better than that.”

Faith Myhre got the Vikings’ rally started by smacking a ball to right-center field for a leadoff triple. Izabelle Hulzebos followed up by battling her way to a seven-pitch walk but a strikeout put one out away when Dakota Pesch stepped up to the plate.

Hulzebos stole second base to put two runners in scoring position in the scoreless tie and Pesch took advantage with a two-run single. Pesch then advanced to second on the unsuccessful attempt to get Hulzebos out at the plate and scored after advancing on a pair of passed balls to make the score 3-0.

“I just focused on breathing and making sure everything is cleared out of my mind,” Pesch said of her approach in the at-bat. “I know that I need to look for those pitches and that’s what I really worked on. I’m always working on clearing out my mind before every single pitch and knowing what to look for.”

Pesch added that she didn’t expect the contact she made to turn into the go-ahead RBI because she hurt her arm on the hit, but she heard her coaches yelling to keep going so she focused her energy on beating out the throw to first base.

Dawson-Boyd had one last chance to force extras in the top of the seventh but Minneota/Canby pitcher Madison Hennen shut the Blackjacks down. She allowed just a single in the inning and struck out two of the four batters she faced to close out the game.

Prior to Thursday’s victory, the Vikings had lost four consecutive games, combining for one run across the stretch. Yet, their defense has still continued to be impressive; after Thursday’s win, Minneota has allowed more than two runs just once in their last six games and has not allowed five or more runs in the stretch.

“We’ve got a great pitcher, obviously, but our shortstop, Faith Myhre, she’s great at diving for balls. She’s not afraid to get after it. Everybody, really [is contributing],” Minneota catcher Kiersyn Hulzebos said of the team’s defensive consistency. “Our outfielders, they’re great, really quick, they commit to every ball.”

Hennen her second complete-game shutout and her third complete game without an earned run this season. The sophomore pitcher struck out 15 of the 27 batters she faced while holding Dawson-Boyd to five hits and a walk.

Prior to the recent skid, the Vikings had scored seven or more runs three times in a row and had cracked double digits in five of their first 10 games. After being shutout for three in a row and held to one run in a 2-1 loss to Fairmont prior to this game, the Vikings hope that the late rally is a sign of a return to form.

“We’ve been in a hitting rut lately and our last four games we lost, we just wanted to break that streak for sure,” Kiersyn Hulzebos said. “We’ve been working on hitting a lot, especially against our good pitchers. So we still have a lot to figure out with our hitting but I think it’s getting better.”

While she wasn’t able to pick up the win, Alli Estling had another quality performance in the circle for Dawson-Boyd. She held the Vikings scoreless for the first five innings, also limiting Minneota/Canby to just four hits and a walk before giving up another three hits and a walk in the final frame. She also struck out seven batters.

“She throws the ball with some good pace and she moved her locations around,” Dawson-Boyd head coach Josh Dorn said of Estling’s day on the mound. “I think she had the hitters a little bit off their game, a little bit on edge, and the kids backed her up in the field. 

“That’s how they’ve been playing all year. They’ve been getting better and better and we’ve been making fewer mistakes. Unfortunately just had one little spot out there that kind of dinged us or we would probably still be [tied at] 0-0.”

While the Blackjacks weren’t able to score a run, they did put runners in scoring position in the second inning. Maddie Peterson hit a one-out double and Estling and Elsie Wiebe each reached safely after to load the bases with two outs. Still, Hennen got a strikeout — her third of the inning — to get out of the frame unscathed.

“We had multiple innings where we had runners in scoring position but weren’t able to get that key hit to get a run on board,” Dorn said. “I think that was part of it and just that sixth inning, that was one play and that was the game. I’m super proud of these girls and their effort and it’s exciting to see.”

After Pesch scored on a passed ball, Estling finished off the at-bat with a groundout before being relieved by Madalyn Wente, who struck out the lone batter she faced.

Pesch led Minneota/Canby with two hits while Maddie Peterson and Elsie Wiebe each had a pair of hits for the Blackjacks. Peterson and Wiebe each also doubled on the day to account for the Blackjacks’ only extra-base hits.

The Vikings improve to 10-5 with the win while the Blackjacks fall to 3-7 on the season. Minneota/Canby will look to build on the momentum from their sixth-inning rally when they head to Danube for a doubleheader against Renville County West (5-4) today at 3:30 p.m. Dawson-Boyd will head to Graceville for a single game against Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley on Saturday at 1 p.m.