River Ridge rides the arm of Kiki Von Holt to a 6-1 win and its third straight district title.
By STEVE LEE
Published April 30, 2004
TRINITY - River Ridge ace Kiki Von Holt entered Thursday's final having never lost to Land O'Lakes.
She still hasn't.
Von Holt's pitching and some shoddy fielding by the Gators led the Royal Knights to a 6-1 win and their third straight district title.
"For our seniors, we never beat River Ridge," said Land O'Lakes senior first baseman Andy Babij, who had one of two triples off Von Holt. "It would have been nice to beat them. Kiki pitched a good game."
Von Holt (19-2) tossed a two-hitter, struck out nine and walked one.
"When you're playing River Ridge and River Ridge gets up two or three runs on you, you know it's an uphill battle with Kiki on the mound," Knights coach Ernie Beck said.
River Ridge (23-2), a two-time state finalist, hosts 5A-6 runnerup Lake Region on Thursday. Land O'Lakes (18-7) plays at 5A-6 champion Lakeland George Jenkins, a 4-2 winner over Lake Region.
River Ridge took a 3-0 lead in the first, sending eight to the plate. It could have been a bigger lead had pinch-runner Katy Donovan not been called out for tagging up too early from third base on Michelle Miller's apparent sacrifice fly. That was the first of two double plays turned by Land O'Lakes.
Land O'Lakes' fielders' reluctance to throw to first base on two ground balls with runners aboard proved costly in the first. Shortstop Jessica Tejas and third baseman Ashley Rigau fielded grounders cleanly, but pump-faked trying to trap lead runners on base. Those fielding gaffes led to Stephanie Seaman scoring the first run.
Deanna Kiesel and Danielle Denney each followed withRBI singles before the Gators prevented further damage with the double play on Miller's flyout to left.
"We got in a hole in the first inning," Land O'Lakes coach Mark Rulison said. "We had a couple of chances to get an out and we didn't throw the ball. We moved the runners back like we wanted to, but we didn't throw to first base."
The Gators got their only run in the top of the second when Kim Hensley drew a one-out walk and pinch-runner Tristin Trottier scored on Ashley Rigau's triple.
Janet Houck went 4-for-4 with a double and a triple, drove in two and scored once to pace the Knights' offense. Land O'Lakes' Rhiannon Bogaert, who allowed 12 hits, dropped to 15-6.
Beck said scoring early and shutting down Land O'Lakes in order in three of the first four innings were the keys to victory. Especially, Beck noted, since No. 3 Land O'Lakes defeated No. 2 Mitchell in Tuesday's semifinal.
"I knew they were high coming in," Beck said.
Added Rulison, "After the Mitchell game, there was no letdown."
