After the Clipper girls whipped up on visiting Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons on Monday, the team honored seniors Ava Hahn (left) and Lacey McCabe (right).
“Laughing with you will always be a core memory, and I will always be grateful I got the chance to play with you,” sophomore teammate Kaitlyn Flowers said to Hahn. “Thank you for always giving 100 percent and pushing all of us to be better. You are a great example of how an amazing athlete and leader should look. Everyone looks up to you, and we are truly blessed to have you as a teammate and even more as a friend.”
“Thank you for making my high school experience so special,” sophomore teammate Taylor McCabe told her sister. “I’ll miss the car rides to school every morning, hanging out with you every day…I’m so proud of the person you have become. You’re the best big sister a girl could ask for.”
The Clippers went on to beat host Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 8-2 a day later.
Cleveland 17, Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons 0
The young Knights, whose only wins were against Lyle/Austin Pacelli and Schaeffer Academy, came to town with a 3-12 record.
The Clippers scored 10 runs in the first inning, four in the second and three in the third to wrap up the contest in four and a half innings.
Delaney Thompson only allowed one hit and two walks. The sophomore befuddled the Knights with 11 strikeouts, eight of them as statues, and stranded three runners. The defense was perfect behind her.
The Clippers took advantage of a dozen hits, five walks and seven errors. All but one run was earned.
Keira Schipper was three for three at the plate with three singles and four RBIs. Thompson and Flowers each hit a single and a double and each had three RBIs. Brooke Bosse had two singles and one RBI. Hahn and the McCabe siblings each added a single and one RBI. Cecelia Gair had one RBI. The Clippers walked five times, struck out twice and left two runners on base.
Thompson led off the bottom of the first with a walk, Hahn walked too. Thompson stole second and third and crossed the plate on a wild pitch to score the winning run. With a single, Schipper brought Hahn home. Flowers cracked an RBI double. Taylor McCabe reached first on an error, and Flowers scored on the play. Bosse singled, and with an error on the play, Taylor McCabe scored while Bosse reached second. After Taylor Wolf walked, Gair hit into an outfield error, and Bosse scored on the play.
Back up, Thompson reached first on another outfield error, and with a pair of two-RBI singles by Schipper and Flowers, the Clippers were in front 10-zip.
On a Bosse walk, a Lacey McCabe single and doubles from Thompson for two RBIs and Hahn for one RBI followed by a Shipper RBI single, the Clippers were in front 14-0 after two. Taylor McCabe and Bosse hit back-to-back singles to start the third. Lacey McCabe walked, and Bosse scored on a Gair ground out. Thompson brought home Lacey McCabe on a single for the final Clipper run.
Cleveland 8, SESM 2
Flowers led off the second with the first of four-straight singles the Clippers would have. She advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a Taylor McCabe single. Bosse followed with a single. Lacey McCabe singled to load the bases, and a run scored when Anna Lamont walked.
Bosse scored when Thompson hit into a shortstop error. Hahn singled to score Lacey McCabe. Lamont scored on a Schipper sacrifice fly.
The Knights, who came into the game with a 4-12 record, posted both of their runs in the fourth on a walk, a single, a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch for one run with the second run scoring on a groundout.
The Clippers added two more runs in the sixth. Lacey McCabe led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a Wolf single. Both runners crossed the plate on a Thompson double.
The final Clipper run came in the seventh when Flowers led off with a double and scored on a Taylor McCabe single.
Four for four at the plate with three singles and a double, Flowers’ bat was sizzling. Thompson hit a single and a double for three RBIs. The McCabe sisters each had two singles. Bosse, Wolf and Hahn each had a single. The Clippers walked once and struck out four times and were left stranded six times.
Thompson threw all seven innings. She allowed three hits and six walks while striking out 10 and marooning eight SESM runners.
The Clippers went on to lose 12-2 to Nicollet on Thursday in the Valley Conference showcase tournament at North Mankato’s Caswell Park. Details will be in a separate story.