Holy bats, man!
Fans of hitting — and offense — should follow the signal to Friday's matchup between Minnehaha Academy and Mounds Park Academy, where there should be some super performances at the plate.
The Redhawks have four players among the state's top six in hits, as listed on the MN Softball Hub, and a dynamic duo in the top 10 for RBI, including Kate Pryor, who leads the list with 28 hits and is ninth with 19 RBI. Kaylee Harnack is fifth with 23 hits and fourth with 23 RBI, and Caroline McHugh (third with 24 hits, six RBI), Clarie Selje (fifth with 23 hits, 15 RBI) are just off their teammates' pace, and the quartet's production — 98 of the team's hulking total of 146 hits, along with 63 of 97 RBI — has been the bright spot in an otherwise up-and-down season for Minnehaha Academy (7-6, 4-3). Pryor is second in the state in runs scored (22), showing that this super girl has also taken advantage of being on the base paths.
The Redhawks haven't strung together multiple victories since winning three of their first four games of the season, and that inconsistency has them trailing first-place Mounds Park and second-place Blake in the Independent Metro Athletic Conference standings.
The Panthers have clawed their way to the top of the league standings and remain undefeated thanks to the scoring acumen of three eighth-graders: Rachel Agerter and sisters JuliAnna and Jennesa Gazdik.
Agerter has 20 runs scored, which is sixth most in the state, while JuliAnna Gazdik has 18 and Jennesa 16 on the season — meaning the trio has accounted for more than half of Mounds Park's 101 runs.
Agerter and JuliAnna each scored five times when these teams last met, a 21-8 victory for the Panthers (9-0, 7-0) on April 25.