By Steve Morris

The Rush City softball team continued their pattern of winning by extremes and then losing by extremes.

On April 25 the Tigers lost to Aitkin at home by 11 runs to a score of 13-2.

The Tigersí hitting was on target, but the Aitkin defense was ready to play. The Tigers had 21 plate appearances and only one strike out. ìWe hit the play and they made the plays,î head coach Kim Erdman said. ìI feel Aitkin is the most improved team in the conference from a year ago,î Erdman said.

The Tigers had some key defensive errors that were costly he said.

ìI felt there were some balls that got through our infield that could have been fielded with a little quicker reaction,î Erdman went on.

Senior Bobbi Cort pitched for the loss, striking out six and walking three. The Vikings didnít let the ghost of the Aitkin loss follow them to the next game. On April 27 the girls traveled to Moose Lake and handed the home team a 21-12 loss.

ìThe girls came out strong right out of the game, but then we slowed down in the middle innings,î Erdman said.

After a few mental blunders the Vikings defense regained their focus. Erdman said Janet Kemen made a wonderful running catch in left field and Jamie Prettner made a great play diving to stop a hard hit ground ball.

ìOur defense showed up today,î he said.

The Vikings had 20 hits on the night. Cort, Charlene Hebert, Laura Gamache and Josie Gust each had three hits in the win.

Cort started the game and Kemen relieved her for the win.