Danielle Dent and Amber Rowland sparked the offense by combining for 14 hits and 13 RBI while Cady Clinton allowed only six earned runs as the Park Rapids fastpitch softball team opened the season by finishing third at Saturday's Park Rapids Invitational at Olson Fields.
The Panthers opened with a 14-4 win in five innings over Norman County West before dropping a 6-5 decision to Lake of the Woods in the semifinals. Park Rapids rebounded to defeat Bagley 14-6 in the third-place game. Lake of the Woods defeated Crookston 8-4 in the title game.
In the three games, the Panthers pounded out 32 hits and stole 24 bases while outscoring their opponents 34-15.
Panthers rout NCW
The Panthers capitalized on six NCW errors and stole 10 bases to win the opener via the 10-run rule.
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Two-run singles by Rowland and Holly Roepke sparked a six-run third inning and an RBI triple by Dent capped off the scoring in the fifth.
Rowland went 2 for 3 while Heather Tretbar, Alyssa Carlson and Roepke scored three runs each.
Clinton allowed one earned run on five hits.
LOW holds off late rally
Lake of the Woods scored four unearned runs in the first inning and held off a late rally by the Panthers to advance to the title game.
Two errors and a pair of two-out hits sparked LOW to a quick 4-0 lead.
An RBI single by Clinton and an RBI triple by Dent pulled the Panthers to within 4-2 in the third and Rowland's RBI double made it 6-3 in the fifth.
Two-out singles by Dent, Rowland and Roepke led to two runs in the seventh before LOW ended the rally.
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Roepke went 3 for 4 and Dent and Rowland each went 2 for 4 to lead Park Rapids' 11-hit attack. Clinton allowed 10 hits, but only one earned run.
Park Rapids 002 010 2....5 11 3
LOW 401 100 x....6 10 3
PLAYER AB R H RBI
Clinton 4 1 1 1
Tretbar 4 1 1 0
Dent 4 0 2 1
Carlson 0 1 0 0
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Rowland 4 0 2 1
Palm 0 1 0 0
Gartner 4 0 1 1
Roepke 4 0 3 1
Fossen 4 0 0 0
Tostenson 2 1 1 0
Weckwerth 3 0 0 0
Schweigart 0 0 0 0
Totals 33 5 11 5
Clinton (6IP, 6R, 1ER, 10H, 2K, 3BB) and Dent; Albright and Bueslar. W-Albright. L-Clinton, 1-1. 3B: Dent 1, Rowland 1. SB: Clinton 1. LOB: Park Rapids 8, LOW 10.
Panthers take charge late
The Panthers scored three times in both the fourth and fifth innings and added five runs in the seventh to defeat Bagley for third place.
Dent's inside-the-park home run gave Park Rapids a 1-0 lead in the first before Bagley took a 2-1 lead in the second.
Four Bagley errors led to three runs in the fourth before the Panthers took a 7-4 lead in the fifth on a double by Rowland and singles by Tretbar, Dent, Leeza Tostenson and Clinton.
Singles by Tretbar, Dent and Rowland sparked a two-run sixth before another double by Rowland and singles by Hailey Lundin, Tretbar, Maria Goetz and Tostenson capped off the scoring in the seventh.
Rowland went 4 for 5 with four RBI and Dent went 3 for 4 with four RBI to lead the offense. Tretbar went 3 for 5 and scored three times and Carlson scored four times. Tretbar, Carlson, Jenny Palm, Tostenson and Clinton each stole two bases as the Panthers had 16 hits and 13 steals.
Clinton scattered 12 hits and allowed three earned runs in another complete game.
Park Rapids 100 332 5....14 16 4
Bagley 020 210 1......6 12 9
PLAYER AB R H RBI
Roepke 5 0 1 0
Tretbar 5 3 3 1
Dent 4 0 3 4
Carlson 0 4 0 0
Goetz 1 1 1 0
Rowland 5 1 4 4
Palm 0 1 0 0
Tostenson 5 0 2 1
Clinton 5 1 1 1
Gartner 3 1 0 0
Lundin 2 1 1 0
Fossen 3 0 0 0
Weckwerth 3 0 0 1
Domino 1 1 0 0
Schweigart 0 0 0 0
Totals 42 14 16 12
Clinton (7IP, 6R, 3ER, 12H, 4K, 2BB) and Dent; Martine and Storhaug. W-Clinton, 2-1. L-Martine. 2B: Rowland 2. HR: Dent 1. SB: Roepke 1, Tretbar 2, Carlson 2, Goetz 1, Palm 1, Tostenson 2, Clinton 2, Lundin 1, Domino 1. LOB: Park Rapids 7, Bagley 12.
