OTC to play Perham in sub section opener

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Otter Tail Central Bulldogs secured a big Park Region Conference win on Friday night against the conference champion and perennial powerhouse New York Mills by a score of 11-10 on Thursday. The win improved the Bulldogs to 2-16 overall and 1-13 in the conference. 

The win came on the heels of a busy week with five games, including four games decided by 2 runs or less.

On Monday night the Bulldogs dropped a pair of 1 run games to Rothsay by a score of 8-7 and 11-10, before falling to Pillager by scores of 7-5 and 15-3 on Tuesday. 

The Bulldogs received the eighth seed in the sub section tournament and will take on ninth seeded Perham in the opening round on Tuesday night in Breckenridge. The winner of the game will take on top seeded Breckenridge/Wahpeton on Tuesday night at 5 p.m. 

The sub section tournament will continue on Thursday night as the winner of Breckenridge vs. OTC/Perham will take on either fourth seeded Hawley or fifth seeded Fergus Falls at 4 p.m. in Frazee. The sub section championship game will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday night in Frazee.

On the other side of the bracket, second seeded Wadena-Deer Creek will take on seventh seeded Frazee and third seeded Barnesville will take on sixth seeded Pelican Rapids. 

Tuesday

OTC dropped a pair of games to the Pillager Huskies by scores of 7-5 and 15-3 on Tuesday night.

In the opening game of the night, the Bulldogs overcame an early 6-1 deficit and made a game of it late by scoring 2 runs in the top of the seventh inning to bring the score to 7-5. Unfortunately they couldn’t come away with the win as they dropped their third straight close game of the week. 

Hannah Radzwill and Sophie Akerman led the way offensively with a pair of hits and 1 RBI each in the loss. 

Akerman took the loss on the mound as she went 6 innings and gave up 13 hits and 3 earned runs, while striking out 4 hitters.

In the nightcap, Pillager took advantage of 8 OTC errors, which led to 7 unearned runs as OTC fell by a score of 15-3. Pillager broke the game open in the top of the fifth inning with 6 runs to end the game by the 10-run rule. 

All 3 runs for OTC came in the bottom of the third inning when Akerman brought a pair of runners across the plate and Kenady Cameron helped her own cause with an RBI single.

Akerman led the way with a pair of hits, including a double. 

Cameron took the loss on the mound as she went 4 1/3 innings and gave up 9 hits and 8 earned runs, while striking out 2 hitters. 

AB R H     BI

B Christianson 3 3 1 0

L Lukken 4 0 0 0

H Radzwill 3 1 2 1

S Akerman 4 1 2 1

K Cameron 4 0 0 0

E Dirkman 4 0 2 1

E Larson 3 0 0 0

K Bunkowski 1 0 0 0

M Albjerg 3 0 0 0

K Trosdahl 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- S Akerman 2, H Radzwill

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- S Akerman 6.0-13-7-3-4-4

AB R H     BI

B Christianson 2 1 0 0

L Lukken 3 0 1 0

H Radzwill 3 0 0 0

S Akerman 2 1 2 2

K Cameron 0 0 0 0

K Trosdahl 0 0 0 0

E Dirkman 2 0 0 0

E Larson 2 0 0 0

K Bunkowski 1 0 0 0

D Grabe 2 1 1 0

L Connor 0 0 0 0

K Robinson 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- S Akerman

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- K Cameron 4.1-9-15-8-7-2, S Akerman 0.2-0-0-0-0-0

Thursday

OTC took advantage of 4 New York Mills errors and posted 7 runs in the final two innings to come away with an upset win over the PRC champion Eagles on Thursday night. 

OTC trailed 7-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning when they struck for 4 runs to take an 8-7 lead in a back-and-forth game from the opening inning.

After NY Mills scored a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning, the Bulldogs took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth inning when they posted a 3-run inning to take an 11-9 lead. The Eagles made a comeback effort in the top of the seventh inning by scoring a run, but Kenady Cameron was able to limit the damage and ended the game by a score of 11-10 in favor of OTC.

“The Bulldogs have shown great improvement since the beginning of the season,” said head coach Heather Akerman. “We are excited to end the regular season on a high note with a big win against a very good Mills team.”

Cameron picked up the win on the mound as she pitched all 7 innings and gave up just 6 hits and 8 earned runs, while striking out 8 hitters. 

Liz Lukken and Cameron led the way offensively with a pair of hits apiece. Lukken also had a triple in the win. 

AB R H     BI

B Christianson 4 1 1 0

L Lukken 4 2 2 1

H Radzwill 3 2 1 1

S Akerman 4 1 0 1

K Cameron 2 1 2 1

E Dirkman 2 2 1 0

E Larson 3 0 1 1

K Bunkowski 3 0 1 0

D Grabe 3 0 0 0

K Trosdahl 0 2 0 0

M Durbin 0 0 0 0

HITTING- 2B- E Dirkman

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)- K Cameron 7.0-6-10-8-8-8