BLOOMING PRAIRIE – The hard-swinging Blossoms gave coach Chad Gimbel his first softball victory of his career.

Wednesday, April 05, 2000

BLOOMING PRAIRIE – The hard-swinging Blossoms gave coach Chad Gimbel his first softball victory of his career.

His squad cracked out 12 hits on its way to a 7-6 win over non-conference foe Hayfield.

The hitting stars for the Blossoms were Missy Avery, Megan Ingvalson, and Stephanie Ruhter.

Avery went 3-for-4 with a two-run double in the second and three RBI overall. Ingvalson was 3-for-3 with one RBI.

Last, but not least, was Ruhter, who hit a smash over the Hayfield centerfielder’s head for a triple that sent Avery home to tie the game up at five in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Blooming Prairie junior pitcher Stephanie Thompson then put the Blossoms ahead with a run-scoring single.

"It was a little surprising I got that big hit," Thompson said.

Thompson, in her first varsity start, was wild most of the contest on the mound, but made some key pitches in the clutch to get some big ground outs.

Thompson walked 13, struck out two, and gave up seven hits.

How impressive Thompson was in a jam was demonstrated in the top of the seventh.

The Blossoms went up 7-5 after Megan Ingvalson scored all the way from first on a pop up single by Jana Peterson in the bottom of the sixth.

Thompson then got the Hayfield lead-off hitter, Leslie Koskie, to pop up to short to get the first out of the final inning. She then walked the two through four batters in the order before getting the next two batters to ground back to her for the final two outs of the ball game.

"I was pretty nervous," Thompson said about the seventh inning. "But I knew if I pitched strikes the defense would get the outs. This was a very good game for us. We have shown a lot of improvement from the first day of practice."

That improvement came from the whole team. The Blossoms had three players who would be starters injured and out of action.

"That was a pretty darn good game for the first one of the season," Gimbel said. "Our defense was really solid and we also had some big hits."

The Vikings stranded a total of 14 runners on base. They never got the big timely hit.

Vikings pitchers had some success with Cathy Kiefer striking out five in four innings of work and Amy Nelson two in two innings.

The Blossoms are on the road Thursday when they take on Triton in dodge Center. The Vikings host NRHEG on Thursday.

Hayfield 013 100 1 – 6 7 0

Blooming Prairie 220 201 x – 7 12 2

Cathy Keifer, Amy Nelson (5) and Megan Follmuth; Stephanie Thompson and Megan Ingvalson. W: Thompson. 2B-Missy Avery. 3B-Stephanie Ruhter. RBI-Hayfield, Leslie Koskie 2, Follmuth 1, Katie Berg 1, Allison Woodwick 1, Karrie Burns 1; BP, Avery 3, Ruhter 1, Thompson 1, Ingvalson 1, Jana Peterson 1.