Area softball: Goodhue 5-6, Lake City 4-4

The Wildcats came away with a couple of nail-biting wins Thursday afternoon in Lake City, concluding their regular season with five wins.

In the eighth inning of Game 1, a single from freshman Emily Roschen and a double from Katie Charbonneau two batters later put the Wildcats up one run. Brooke Bitzan then singled to score Charbonneau, giving Goodhue a two-run cushion.

The Tigers made it interesting in the bottom of the eighth. They scored one run and had runners on second and third with two outs, but a groundout to pitcher Anne Lodermeier crushed their comeback attempt.

Charbonneau finished 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI. Lodermeier went all eight innings, allowing two earned runs on nine hits and six strikeouts.

Goodhue's ability to bounce back after a poor inning defensively was the difference in the second game.

An error-filled fifth inning, which included a misplayed ball in center field that allowed three runs to score, put the Wildcats down 4-1.

Goodhue bounced back to score four runs in the bottom half of the inning to regain the lead.

"(The error-filled fifth inning) kind of deflated us a little bit," Goodhue coach Chris Irvin said. "But it meant a lot for our team, I believe, to spark (our fifth-inning) rally."

The Wildcats once again found themselves in trouble in the final inning. With runners on second and third with two outs, Bitzan made a tough play on a pop fly over her head to end the game.

"If the ball drops, it's a tie game," Irvin said.

With the pair of wins, Goodhue finished at 5-15 overall on the season.

Tags: lake city, sports, prep, softball, tigers, goodhue, wildcats