BRAINERD -- The Bemidji High School softball team met an unforgiving foe on Thursday, suffering 10-1 and 12-1 losses to Brainerd in a road doubleheader.
In game one, the Lumberjacks (2-4) scored their lone run when Lexie Tatro scored on Elizabeth Oster’s RBI double in the fourth inning. But prior to that, the Warriors (7-0) kept the scoreboard operator active with six runs in the second inning and two more in the third.
Brainerd added another pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, more than enough to cruise to the finish line. Olivia Tautges spun a complete game for the Warriors, stifling BHS hitters with 14 strikeouts -- including seven the first time through the lineup.
Aleah Shogren was saddled with the loss for Bemidji, going the distance but allowing 10 runs on 12 hits.
In the second game, the Lumberjacks found themselves down 11-1 after just three innings. Brainerd piled on with five runs in each of the first two innings, then added another in the third.
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BHS responded in the bottom of the first inning when Jody Pemberton singled and later scored on a groundout by Tatro. But Bemidji’s bats mustered just two singles the rest of the way, with only one baserunner reaching as far as third base.
Mariah Graves took the loss for the Lumberjacks, conceding 16 hits and 12 runs in four innings in the circle.
BHS returns to the diamond for a 5:30 p.m. matchup against Jamestown on Friday, May 6, in Little Falls.
