Hinckley-Finlayson faced Hill City/Northland in the elimination bracket after losing to Mille Lacs.
The Jaguars suffered a deflating loss but had to quickly turn around and play a rematch against the Storm.
After the first inning it seemed as if we'd be in for a true pitchers dual, but the Storm busted things wide open in the top of the 2nd. On one lone hit and a few errors the Storm were able to put 3 runs on the board. They were also able to add another run in the 3rd inning which gave them a commanding lead early in the game. The Jags couldn't answer.. immediately that is. In the bottom of the third inning they saw all nine batters come to the plate. On only two hits, and with the help of some errors, they were able to match the Storms four runs from the previous innings.
Now with the game tied the attention turned back to the pitchers. Hinckley-Finlayson's 7th grader Aris Richey stood tall throughout the rocky start and grabbed 5 strikeouts in the final 4 innings. The 5th inning looked like it might slip away from Hinckley-Finlayson as the Storm added a run on the board to take a one run lead with only one out. Thankfully, the Jags pulled together flew out the next two batters and brought it to their half of the 5th. They saw six players make they way to the batters box. Those six batters helped drive in two runs to give them their first the lead of not just this game but of the day. Richey would only face three batters in the 6th striking out 2. Then in the 7th Richey struck out the Storms best power hitter and forced a fly out from the next. After battling with the third batter, the Storm were able to eek out a hit. This didn't seem to affect Aris, as she struck out the very next batter to win the game and keep the Jaguars playoff run alive. She went all 7 innings striking out 7 batters. Did we mention she's only in 7th grade?!
They will play in Pillager on Tuesday in the elimination bracket against Walker-Hackensack-Akeley.
