There weren’t a lot of surprises when the Clipper girls topped visiting Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons in the first round of the section 2A playoffs on Tuesday.
The Clippers outhit the Knights 9-1, Delaney Thompson rung up 15 batters, and the game lasted six innings.
The victory sets up a contest between the fourth-seeded Clippers and visiting fifth-seeded Sleepy Eye today (Thursday) at 5:00 p.m.
The Clippers put up a pair of runs in the first when top-of-the-order Thompson hit into the first of five errors the Knights would suffer. Next up, Kaitlyn Flowers got hit by a pitch, and Natalie Flowers sent a single to left field to juice the bases. Taylor McCabe lined a hit into center field for a pair of RBIs.
Three-straight errors loaded the bases in the top of the second, and Natalie Flowers’ sacrifice fly added another Clipper run.
Leading off the bottom of the fourth, Addison Sandhurst got it hit by a pitch. Delaney Thompson, the Flower sisters and Keira Schipper each singled and drove in a run. With a McCabe sacrifice fly after, the Clippers led 8-0.
Natalie Flowers led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and crossed the plate on a Schipper single. Schipper swiped second, advanced to third on a McCabe ground out and invoked the 10-run rule when Brooke Bosse smashed a double into left field.
Natalie Flowers was three for three at the plate with a sacrifice fly and two RBIs. Schipper hit two singles and drove in a pair of runs. Kaitlyn Flowers hit a single that scored two runs. Bosse hit an RBI double. McCabe hit a single, hit a sacrifice fly and collected three RBIs. Delaney Thompson hit a single. The Clippers walked once, got hit by three pitches and didn’t strike out at all. They left three on base.
Delaney Thompson walked one. The Clippers made no errors, so only three Knight batters made it on base, including one on a fielder's choice. .
The winner of Cleveland vs Sleepy Eye plays the winner of JWP vs MCW at 10:00 on Saturday at Caswell Park while the looser heads to the 10:00 elimination bracket there. The winner of the third-round game plays at Caswell at noon while the loser has a noon game in the elimination bracket.
Above: Kaitlyn Flowers readies to glove a throw from Delaney Thompson for a force out at second and a fielder’s choice.