Boys Tennis: Minnehaha Academy gets last laugh in 4-3 non-conference win

Ivan Rodriguez 4-6, 7-6 (5) (10-8) winner at No. 3 singles

A failure to hold big leads proved costly in a 4-3 non-conference loss to Minnehaha Academy Monday afternoon on the Boeckman Middle School courts.

Two of the Tiger victories came in the singles bracket where Ben Cline won a 6-4, 6-3 straight-set verdict at the No. 2 position and Ivan Rodriguez ground  out a come-from-behind 4-6, 7-6 (5), 10-8 super tie-breaker win at the No. 3 slot.

"Ivan saved two match points in the second set before prevailing in the super tie-breaker," coach Jack Olwell said.

 The third win came at third doubles where the tandem of Austin Rau and Jon Zakoski eked out a 6-4, 4-6 (10-8) decision.

Blake Olmscheid led 5-2 in splitting two sets at first singles before losing a 7-10 super tie-breaker and Bennett Lagro held a 4-1 in the second set in the fourth doubles match before falling 2-6, 5-7.

"This was an exciting match up and down the line," Olwell said, "with some opportunities gained and some opportunities missed. The way we took charge (early) led me to believe we would close it out, but it doesn't always work out that way."

The Tigers return to action Tuesday with a Missota Conference road match at Holy Angels. Thursday they return home to square off against Northfield.

Softball: Five-run first lifts Shakopee over Tigers

Aleah Williamson RBI single (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington scored two runs in its first at-bat but Shakopee responded with five scores in the home half of the inning on the way to a 6-3 Missota Conference win Friday afternoon in Shakopee.

"We took the momentum with the two runs in the first," Tiger coach Paul Harrington said, "but they took it right way from us and we never got it back."

The loss left the Tigers and Sabers tied for second place in the conference standings with 6-2 records. Chanhassen leads the league with a 7-1 mark.

"We both play Chanhassen again, so there is a lot yet to be determined," Harrington said.

Toni Hunsinger doubled to start the two-run first, moved to third on an error and scored on a base hit by Amber Doyle. Aleah Williamson's single scored pinch-runner Molly Berdan for the second run.

The Tigers plated their other run in the third inning on a two-out single by Brooke Searles and Hunsinger's second double of the afternoon.

Hunsinger finished the game with three hits, a run batted in and a run scored. Doyle rapped a pair of hits and knocked in a run.

Junior righthander Ashley Betzold allowed nine hits in losing for just the second time this season.

"We battled at the plate and got on by walks, hits and errors," Harrington said, "but we didn't get the big hit when we needed it. We need to get our timely hitting back."

The first chance to do that comes Tuesday at Holy Angels. Thursday the Tigers travel to Northfield for another conference tilt.

Lorencz scores two seconds at Hamline Elite meet



Nadia Lorencz


Nadia Lorencz scored a pair of second place finishes at the Hamline Elite meet held Friday night at Hamline University in St. Paul.

The talented Tiger junior placed runner-up in both the long jump and triple jump. She also finished eighth in the 100-meter hurdles. She came into the meet ranked first in the state in all three events.

"The schedule was so tight for Nadia's three events that I think it took her out of her normal rhythm," coach Tom Hart said. "It was great for her to be selected for this event but there are a lot more important meets coming up."

Senior Alyssa Parco was the only other Tiger to receive an invite to the prestigious meet but she and her coach decided it  would be wise to sit out the competition.

"She tweaked a leg earlier in the week and it just wasn't worth aggravating it any further," Hart said. "There is a lot of season ahead of us."

Parco had qualified for the meet in both the 100-meter dash and 300-meter hurdles.

Baseball: Tigers fall to Apollo in nine

Drew Hegseth 2 RBI (photo by Jim Lindquist)

 The Tigers concluded a busy, four-game week with a tough 6-5 extra-inning loss to St. Cloud Apollo Friday night under the lights at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud.

Farmington finished its four-games-in-five days grind with a 2-2 record and will take a 3-7 record into next week's play.

The Tigers struck first with a pair of runs in their first at-bat on a walk to Nathan Graham, singles by Jordan Lugowski, Spencer Merle and Brian Hegseth and a bases-loaded walk to Kevin Olund.

The visitors went up 4-0 in the third inning on a single by Ty Vincent, an Apollo error and Olund's RBI double.

The lead was short-lived, however, as Apollo scored two in the home half of the third and took the lead with a three-run fourth.

Vincent's double and a fielder's choice ground ball by Hegseth tied the contest in the sixth and the teams went scoreless until the winners pushed across the deciding run in the ninth.

Vincent had three of the six Tiger hits and scored twice. Hegseth and Olund each knocked in a pair of runs.

Next week the Tigers have another busy week on the docket. Tuesday they travel to Richfield to take on Holy Angels before returning home on Thursday to play Northfield. Friday and Saturday they play in the Wood Bat Tournament in Apple Valley.

Tiger Scoreboard: April 28, 2012

Softball
Shakopee 6 Farmington 3

Baseball
St. Cloud Apollo 6  Farmington 5 (9 innings)

Boys Lacrosse: Streaking Tigers make it four in a row with 11-8 win over East Ridge



Brendon Berg 3 goals (photo by Jim Lidnquist)

What a difference a year makes. Last spring the Tigers won one game, their first in the two-year history of the program.

This spring coach Paul Sorensen's squad split its first two games but after Thursday night's 11-8 win at East Ridge, Farmington is the proud owner of a four-game winning streak and a  5-1 season record.

"It's a year of growing together, maturing," Sorensen said of the turnaround. "We also added two very capable and technically skilled coaches in Mike Fox and Carl Starkey.

"Most of the credit goes to our players who understand how to win. Getting the first couple (wins) are
always the hardest and now it's an expectation amongst our group no matter who's out there. The culture is changing."

The Tigers used a balanced offensive attack and a stingy defense to post the victory with Brendon Berg scoring a career-high three goals to lead the way. Trevor Howard, Jake Bauman and Matt Ackerman netted two apiece and Kevin Clifton and Alex Schrafft each scored one for the winners.

Howard added four assists and Clifton and Mike Thompson each had one.



Charlie Weierke earned 5th win (photo by Jim Lindquist)


Charlie Weierke, who has been in the nets for all of the team's wins over the past two-plus seasons,  recorded his fifth win of the year.

The victory did not come without a price, however. Co-captain Howard was injured and removed from the field by ambulance with as yet-to-be-determined  internal injuries.

Mitch Collier, another co-captain, is out for the season after suffering a broken leg in a game last week.

Next week the Tigers have two home games against tough opposition. Tuesday unbeaten Holy Angels comes to town and Thursday Chaska/Chanhassen pays a visit to Tiger Stadium.

Girls Lacrosse: A perfect week

The Tigers completed a perfect 2-0 week with a 10-4 win over Chaska/Chanhassen (photo by Jim Lindquist)

 The Tigers capped a perfect week with a solid 10-4 win over Chaska/Chanhassen Thursday night at Tiger Stadium. The victory capped a 2-0 run for Farmington who evened its season record to 3-3.

"The biggest difference from last year to this year is the leadership that we have," coach Dan Pickens said. "We have the skill to be a top-10 team in the state; we were just waiting for the senior leaders to step up like they have done this year.

"The girls work hard and work as a team, which is the most important part of being successful. I am excited for the rest of the season. We are going to take a run at this section as well."

The Tigers dominated throughout, scoring six first half-goals on the way to build a commanding four-goal lead.

Adrienne Jolicoeur 4 goals, 1 assist (photo by Jim Lindquist)

 Adrienne Jolicoeur (4) and Haley Bradshaw (3) combined for seven of the Farmington goals with Jess Erchul, Michaela Tonsager and Betsy Anderson each adding a score. Jolicoeur, Bradshaw and Shelby Klotz also scored for Farmington.

Goalkeeper Maddie Kohlbeck stopped 12 of 16 shots to post her third win of the season.

"Maddie tore her ACL against this team last year," Pickens said. "She had special motivation tonight."

Pickens said the key to victory No. 3 was winning the little battles.

"We were winning draws and causing turnovers," he said. "We were patient in the offensive zone and let them make the mistakes."

Next week the Tigers have two big games on the docket. Monday they travel to Richfield to take on Holy Angels and Thursday they get a rematch with Chaska/Chanhassen in Chaska.

Tiger Scoreboard: April 27, 2012

Boys Lacrosse
Farmington 11 East Ridge 8

Girls Lacrosse
Farmington 10 Chaska/Chanhassen 4

Softball: Tigers rout Wingers in five

Taylor Haakana 3-4, 3 RBI, 1 run

Farmington rapped 18 base hits and benefited from five Red Wing errors in a 19-2 home-field Missota Conference win over Red Wing Wednesday afternoon.

It was Youth Softball Night at Tiger Field and coach Paul Harrington said everything fell into place for his team.

"We had a lot of hits and with their errors and passed balls we scored a lot of runs," he said. "It was nice to have so many future Tigers on hand to see it."

The Tigers scored four runs in the first inning and then plated 11 runs on eight hits in an 11-run third to build an insurmountable lead. The game was halted after five innings.

Taylor Haakana and Toni Hunsinger led the offensive   parade with three hits apiece. Haakana drove in three runs and Hunsinger scored twice.

Toni Hunsinger 3-4, 2 runs, RBI

 Aleah Williamson, Amber Doyle, Brooke Searles and Rachel Brietich had two hits apiece for Farmington. Williams and Doyle each scored three runs.

The win was the second straight for the Tigers who raised their season record to 7-1; 6-1 in Missota Conference play.

The girls close out their busy four-game week with a conference game Friday at Shakopee. The Tigers edged the Sabers 3-2 when the teams met earlier in the season.

Tiger Scoreboard: April 26, 2012

Softball
Farmington 19 Red Wing 2

Baseball
Red Wing 12 Farmington 5

Boys Tennis
Farmington 6 Bloomington Kennedy 1

Boys Tennis: Singles sweep fuels 6-1 win over Kennedy

Blake Olmscheid 6-0, 6-1 winner at No. 1 singles

 Farmington dominated the singles competition, sweeping all four matches, on the way to a convincing 6-1 win over Bloomington Kennedy Wednesday afternoon at the Boeckman Middle School courts.

"We were stronger and more consistent from top to bottom," coach Jack Olwell said.

The singles lineup of Blake Olmscheid, Ben Cline, Ivan Rodriguez and Bennett Lagro was dominant, losing a total of just three games.

Rodriguez and Lagro pitched identical 6-0, 6-0 shutouts while Olmscheid and Cline won by respective 6-0, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-2 counts.

The doubles matches were much more competitive with the No. 1 Farmington duo of Tyler Olson and Jeff Zakoski and No. 3 team of Austin Rau and Jon Zakoski each winning in three sets. Olson and Zakoski prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 and Zakoski and Rau  won 7-5, 4-6, 10-7.

"The third doubles match looked like it was going to slip away," Olwell said, "but Jon and Austin came back from 2-5 in the tie-breaker to win it."

Kennedy scored its point in the second doubles match where the Tiger tandem of Austin Tremmel and Trent Kortenbusch lost 3-6, 1-6.

Lorencz, Parco make Hamline Elite field

Nadia Lorencz

Tiger track standouts Nadia Lorencz and Alyssa Parco will compete against Minnesota's best athletes Friday at the Hamline Elite meet to be held Friday at Hamline University in St. Paul.

The event serves as a preview to the state meet held in June at the same site and features the top performers in the state based on early season times and distances.

Lorencz, who has the state's best time in the 100-meter hurdles (14.97) as well as the longest triple jump (37-2) and long jump (18-4), will compete in all three events at the prestigious meet. She finished second in both the hurdles and long jump at the state meet last year.

Parco will go into the Hamline meet with the fastest Minnesota time in her signature event, the 300-meter hurdles (45.29).  A three-time state qualifier in the event, Parco placed third in the event at last spring's state finals.

Alyssa Parco

Baseball: Eight-run inning too much to overcome

John Stibal extended his hitting streak with a single and a double

Red Wing wiped out a 5-4 Farmington lead with a big eight-run fifth inning on the way to a 12-5 Missota Conference win Wednesday afternoon in Red Wing.

The loss snapped a two-game win streak for the Tigers and dropped them to 2-6 in Missota Conference play. Red Wing is a perfect 7-0 in the conference.

"We did everything we hadn't done in the past two games," coach Mike Winters said. "Untimely errors and poor execution on bunt defense led to their eight-run inning. Only two of those runs were earned.

"The good thing is we were right there with the best team in the conference. The bad thing is that we didn't execute when the pressure was on."

Farmington jumped to a quick 4-0 lead in the first on a walk, an error and singles by Jordan Lugowski, John Stibal, Spencer Merle and Nathan Graham.

The Wingers responded with a three-run second but the Tigers came right back with a score in the top of the third on Merle's single and Stibal's RBI double.

The lead held until the fatal fifth when the league leaders posted their eight-spot to put the game away.

Lugowski, Merle and Stibal each had a pair of hits to account for most of the Farmington offense. Stibal knocked in a pair of runs and Merle scored twice.

Andrew Sharratt drew the pitching start for Farmington and worked the first 2.3 innings. Ty Vincent came on in the third. He and Merle were the victims of the eight-run Red Wing fifth.

After back-to-back-to-back games the Tigers get a day off on Thursday before heading to St. Cloud on Friday for a game with St. Cloud Apollo.

Boys Track: Tigers 7th at Wildcat Invitational

Connor Phu cleared a personal best 12 feet to place 6th in the pole vault ( file photo by Jim Lindquist)

 The Tigers scored 27 points to finish seventh in the talent-filled Wildcat Invitational held Tuesday afternoon in Eagan.

Apple Valley piled up 169 points to dominate the competition. Woodbury was runner-up with 96, followed by Park of Cottage Grove 81, Lakeville North 65, Eagan 63, Bloomington Jefferson 54, Farmington 27 and Cretin-Derham Hall 21.

The 4x800 relay team of Chad Retterath, Justin Hyytinen, Eric Stoeckman and Tyler Lerbakken turned in the best Farmington performance of the meet with a second place finish in 8:30.15.

Hyytinen came back later in the meet to lop 10 seconds off his school ninth grade record in the 1600-meter run with a finishing time of 4:31.49.

Pole vaulter Reid Taubenheim tied for third place with a personal best of 12-6 and Lerbakken ranked fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:05.86.

The 4x200 relay team of Troy Hoffman, Tommy Weigel, Mason Auge and CJ Wynnings placed fifth and the 4x400 quartet of Alex Chadwick, Josh Baker, Weigel and Lerbakken took sixth.

Connor Phu cleared a personal best 11-6 in the pole vault to finish sixth.

"We are young and need to be improving at this point to compete in the upcoming conference meets," coach Brian Helmstetter said. "We are going to be changing the mentality at practice a bit to help motivate our athletes."

Next Tuesday the Tigers travel to Shakopee for the Missota Conference Relays and two days later they return for the Shakopee Invitational.

Girls Lacrosse: Tigers win big over Century 16-8

Haley Bradshaw (No. 11)  6 goals, 1 assist ( file photo by Jim Lindquist)

This time time there was no drama, no last second goal and no heart-breaking loss. The Tigers dominated Rochester Century throughout on the way to a 16-8 victory Tuesday night in Rochester to improve their season record to 2-3.

"This was a great rebound game after what happened to us last Friday (one-goal loss to Rosemount)," coach Dan Pickens said. "The girls got the lead, then rather than being comfortable, built on it.

"We made some adjustments throughout the game and the team did a great job of working hard the entire game."

Farmington built an 8-4 lead by the halftime break and doubled that score in the second half.

Haley Bradshaw scored six goals and assisted on a seventh to spearhead the Tiger offensive attack. She got plenty of help from Jess Erchul who registered her second hat trick in as many games.

Michaela Tonsager scored twice  and Adrienne Jolicoeur, Ally Midboe, Betsy Anderson, Shelby Klotz and Rachel Welzin each added a goal. Tia Jacoby had two assists and Haley Doll, Midboe each handed out one.

Goalie Maddie Kohlbeck had another strong outing, finishing with eight saves.

"The biggest difference between this game and the last couple was we kept up our intensity on the big plays like draws and ground balls," Pickens said. "We need to continue to do that."

Thursday the Tigers entertain Chaska/Chanhassen. Game time is 6:30 at Tiger Stadium.

Girls Track: Tigers tie for 4th at Wildcat Invite

Alyssa Parco 1st in 300-meter hurdles (file photo by Jim Lindquist)

 Farmington won four events and tied for fourth place at the Wildcat Invitational held Tuesday at Eagan.

Lakeville South turned in a dominating performance and won the meet with 189 points. Host Eagan placed a distant second with 106, followed by Apple Valley 82, Farmington 69, Lakeville North 69, Rosemount 62, Woodbury 50, Park of Cottage Grove 31, Cretin-Derham Hall 27 and Bloomington Jefferson 17.

"The ladies did pretty well," coach Tom Hart said. "Maria Kiminski did not compete due to injury so that changed things a bit for us.

"It was a beautiful night and as a result many of our times dropped. The meet gave us a look at some of our section competition and let us see where we need to improve and what we need to do moving forward."

Nadia Lorencz was a one-woman wrecking crew for the Tigers, accounting for almost half of their team point total. Lorencz won the 100-meter hurdles (14.97); long jump (18-4) and triple jump (37-0.25) and placed fifth in the pole vault (9-6) for a total of 34 points.

Teammates Alyssa Parco and Izzie Ferm also had big days for the Tigers. Parco won the 300-meter hurdles in a season-best 45.29 and she and Ferm each ran on a pair of third place relay teams.

Izzie Ferm 4th in 200-meter dash, long jump (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Parco, Megan Graham, Jennifer Miller and Ferm took third in the 4x200 and Parco, Graham, Alicia Hett, and Ferm ranked third in the 4x400. Ferm also placed fourth in the 200-meter dash and the long jump.

The 4x100 foursome of Miller, Kelly Kornmann, Kayla Watne and Elizabeth Okikiolu placed seventh and Hett finished eighth in the 1600-meter run to round out the Farmington scoring.

Next Tuesday the girls head to Shakopee for the annual running of the Missota Conference Relays and Thursday they return to the same site for the Shakopee Invitational.

Boys Lacrosse: Tigers on three-game win streak

Jake Bauman appears to have lost his head in a face-off vs. Rochester Century (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Three unanswered goals in the fourth period provided the difference in Farmington's 8-7 win over Rochester Century Tuesday night at Tiger Stadium.

The victory was the third straight for coach Paul Sorensen's team and the fourth in five tries this season.

Sorensen said that playing the first game without co-captain Mitch Collier (broken leg) provided a challenge.

"Mitch was our emotional and spiritual leader," he said. "We were out of sorts and out of sync offensively without our go-to guy to steady us...We need to find offensive chemistry with the guys left standing. We can't replace Mitch but we need to patch in for him."

Goalie Charlie Weierke protects the net (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Matt Ackerman and had three goals and two assists and Trevor Howard finished with two goals and three assists to pace the Tiger offense. Corey Rudrud also scored twice for the winners. Brendon Berg provided the other Farmington score.

Longstickman Joey Todd and Kevin Clifton paced the defensive effort.

"They worked tirelessly all night long," Sorensen said.

Farmington closes its week with a road match at East Ridge on Thursday and then starts preparing for next week's opponents, Holy Angels and Chaska/Chanhassen

Boys Golf: Tigers sixth in Missota Opener

Tony Lalani shot 79 at the Missota Conference opener

Farmington posted its best team score at a conference meet in the past four years but still finished sixth at the first Missota Conference meet of the season played Tuesday at Stonebrooke Golf Club.

Chaska won the tournament with a 299-stroke team total. Host Shakopee finished two shots back at 301, followed by Chanhassen 302, New Prague 310, Red Wing 312, Farmington 317, Holy Angels 324 and Northfield 335.

"We played very well as a team," coach Jon Holmes said. "We just needed that fourth score to give us that extra boost..."

"All in all it was a good outing. We are excited to host the next conference meet next Friday and hopefully we can use some home cooking to move up."

Eighth-grader Erik Holmstrom continued his fine early season play with a round of 76 to finish 11th overall and top the Tiger scorecard. Tommy May and Tony Lalani tied for second at 79. Mitch Reed shot 83, Ryan Kelly 86 and Jake Hanson 95.

"Eric had a good start to his conference season," Holmes said. "Tommy was disappointed with his putting but fought through it and still posted a good score...Tony has been trying to get himself in the mind set that can shoot in the 70's on a consistent basis. This should give him some confidence."

The Tigers tune up for next Friday's conference meet at Fountain Valley with a trip to Hazeltine Golf Club Tuesday for an appearance in the Chaska Invitational.

Tiger Scoreboard: April 25, 2012

Boys Lacrosse
Farmington 8 Rochester Century 7

Girls Lacrosse
Farmington 16 Rochester Century 8

Baseball
Farmington 8 New Prague 0

Softball
Farmington 6  New Prague 2

Boys Tennis
Shakopee 7 Farmington 0

Boys Golf
Missota Conference at Stonebrooke Golf Club
 Chaska 299, Shakopee 301, Chanhassen 302, New Prague 310, Red Wing 312, Farmington 317, Holy Angels 324, Northfield 335.


Girls Track
Eagan Invitational
Lakeville South 189, Eagan 106, followed by Apple Valley 82, Farmington 69, Lakeville North 69, Rosemount 62, Woodbury 50, Park of Cottage Grove 31, Cretin-Derham Hall 27, Bloomington Jefferson 17.

Boys Track
Eagan Invitational
Apple Valley 169, Woodbury 96, Park of Cottage Grove 81, Lakeville North 65, Eagan 63, Bloomington Jefferson 54, Farmington 27, Cretin-Derham Hall 21.

Softball: Back in the win column

1st baseman Amber Doyle 3B, run scored (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington shook off the previous day's extra-inning loss to Chanhassen and defeated New Prague 6-2 Tuesday afternoon at Tiger Field.

Tiger coach Paul Harrington said his team's sixth win in seven tries wasn't perfect but considering a hectic four-games-in-a-week schedule and the previous day's numbing loss it was a step in the right direction.

"We came out flat," Harrington said. "We didn't get many hits and our defense had a few more breakdowns. We need to get more focused and ready to play every game."

The Tigers scored their runs in a pair of three-run outbursts, the first coming in the third when Amber Doyle led off with a triple, Taylor Haakana walked and both scored on a New Prague throwing error. Erin Wurst drove in the third run with a single.

In the fifth, the winners used two walks, an error, a couple of wild pitches and Ashley Betzold's two-run double to score their final three runs.

Betzold racked up her sixth pitching win of the season with a complete-game three-hitter and struck out six.

"She has been a constant for us all season," Harrington said of his junior righthander. "She and Allie (catcher Rice) did a great job with their pitch selection."

Betzold also had two of the six Farmington hits and drove in a pair of runs.

Wednesday the girls are back at Tiger Field for a Missota Conference tilt with Red Wing. Friday they're off to Shakopee to cap off their four-game week.

Boys Tennis: Young Sabers top Tigers

Bennett Lagro lost 3-6, 2-6 at No. 4 singles

An up-and-coming Shakopee team blanked the Tigers 7-0 in a one-sided match played Tuesday at the Boeckman Middle School courts.

The Sabers won all seven matches in straight sets and made an impression on Tiger coach Jack Olwell.

"They are very good," Olwell said. "Red Wing is better but not by much and not for long. Shakopee has a youth movement going on. They have lots and lots of talented middle schoolers in their program."

Tiger eighth-grader Bennett Lagro put up the biggest fight in the losing effort, dropping a 3-6, 2-6 decision at the fourth singles slot.

"With a little more experience, Bennett will be winning this type of match," Olwell said. "He played points well but had too many unforced errors."

The Tigers will play their third match in as many days Wednesday when they travel to Bloomington to take on Bloomington Kennedy.

Shakopee 7 Farmington 0
No. 1 singles       Blake Olmscheid lost 0-6, 1-6
No. 2 singles       Ben Cline lost 1-6, 3-6
No. 3 singles       Ivan Rodriguez lost 0-6, 0-6
No. 4 singles       Bennett Lagro lost 3-6, 2-6
No. 1 doubles      Tyler Olson/Jeff Zakoski lost 1-6, 1-6
No. 2 doubles      Austin Rau/Jon Zakoski lost 1-6, 0-6
No. 3 doubles      Austin Tremmel/Ajay Ramnaryan lost 1-6, 2-6

Baseball: Hegseth, Tigers blank New Prague 8-0

Spencer Merle, 3-4, HR, 4 RBI (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Drew Hegseth shut down New Prague and the Tigers pounded three Trojan pitchers for 13 hits in an 8-0 win Tuesday afternoon in New Prague.

The win was the second in as many days for Farmington who raised its season record to 3-5; 2-5 in Missota Conference.

"We put the ball in play, played good defense and threw strikes," coach Mike Winters said. "The game's a lot easier when you do those things."

Hegseth got all the run support he would need when the Tigers plated a run in the home half of the first inning on a double by Jordan Lugowski and a run-scoring single by Spencer Merle.

The winners made it 4-0 in RBI hits by Lugowski, Merle and Ty Vincent in the third and then scored four more times in their last three at-bats to complete the rout. Merle smacked a two-run homer in the fifth.

Merle had a big day at the plate, going 3-4 with four runs batted in. Baskerville made it five hits in two days with a 3-4 performance and also scored a pair of runs. Lugowski was 2-4, scored twice and drove in a run.

Drew Hegseth complete game five-hitter (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Hegseth threw his first complete game of his varsity career, scattering five hits while striking out two and waking two. The complete game was the second straight for the Tigers. Jonathan Ellis went the distance in a 6-2 win over Chanhassen on Monday.

The busy week continues on Wednesday with a third game in three days, a road contest at Red Wing. Friday the Tigers travel to St. Cloud for a game with Apollo.

Girls Golf: On the upswing

 
The Tigers trailed the field at the first Missota Conference meet of the season played Monday afternoon at Fountain Valley Golf Course, but first year coach Jon Stock wasn't as worried about the team finish as he was the individual improvement of his players.

"The girls showed a lot of improvement from their first meet," Stock said. "We dropped 90 strokes from our team score last Saturday...It was a beautiful day and everything went well for us."

Red Wing won the meet with a low total of 333 strokes, two shots in front of runner-up New Prague. Chanhassen totaled 350, Chaska 355, Northfield 372, Shakopee 393, Holy Angels 395 and Farmington 455.

Brianna Swenson kept her spot atop the Tiger score card with a round of 101. Amanda Steinkeoway shot 113, Kaitlin Jokinen 114, Megan Elliott 127, Alexis House 129 and Halea Wright 136.

The Tigers will be looking to shave even more strokes from their team total next Wednesday at the second conference meet slated for Dahlgreen Golf Course.

Boys Golf: Modest improvement at Deer Run

Erik Holmstrom was low Tiger scorer with 79

The Tigers finished in a seventh place tie with Shakopee at the eight-team Chanhassen Invitational played Monday afternoon at Deer Run Golf Club but coach Jon Holmes said he saw some positives is his team's play.

"We played up and down today," he said "with some modest improvement from our last outing. There are still too many gaps that need to be filled though if we truly want upward mobility in our conference and section."

Missota Conference contender New Prague won the  meet with  291 strokes. Chaska and Chanhassen, two other conference schools, finished at 306 and 307 respectively. Orono also totaled 307, followed by Winona 308, Edina 309, Farmington 329 and Shakopee 329.

Eighth grader Erik Holmstrom was back in the lineup for the Tigers and led the team with a round of 79. Tommy May finished at 81, Ryan Kelly 83, Jake Hanson 86, Tony Lalani 88 and Mitch Reed 91.

"Erik has been hitting the ball pretty solid so far," Holmes said. "As he gets more comfortable he will learn how to score better even when he's not hitting the ball well. That comes only with experience."

Tuesday the Tigers open Missota Conference play with a league get-together at Stonebrooke Golf Club.

"All 12 players will be on the same course under the same conditions," Holmes said. "The pressure will be on some of the seniors to turn their games up a couple of notches." 

Boys Tennis: Fast start not enough in loss to Storm

Ben Cline 6-3, 6-1 winner at second singles

After the first set of the seven varsity matches the Tigers were looking good. They were playing solid tennis and had  a 1-0 lead in four of them.

Unfortunately, things went downhill from there in a 6-1 loss to Chanhassen Monday afternoon at the Boeckman Middle School courts.

Farmington played competitively but in the end it was an inability to win the close ones that cost the Tigers their first Missota Conference win of the season. Chanhassen won all five matches that went three sets.

The Farmington point came at second singles where Ben Cline cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory that featured a rash of service aces.

Ivan Rodriguez and Bennett Lagro each lost tough three-set affairs at third and fourth singles and all three doubles teams (Tyler Olson/Jeff Zakoski; Austin Tremmel/Trent Kortenbusch and Austin Rau/Jon Zakoski) lost in three sets.

"The good news is that we never gave up," Tiger coach Jack Olwell said. "We kept fighting back."

The Tigers are at home the next two days, hosting Shakopee Tuesday and Bloomington Kennedy Wednesday.

Softball: Tigers fall to Storm in extra innings

Allie Rice hit her second home run in as many games, a two-run blast in the third inning ( file photo by Jim Lindquist)

 Chanhassen pushed across a run in the eighth inning and defeated the Tigers 5-4 Monday afternoon in Chanhassen.

The loss was the first of the season for Farmington (5-1) and dropped Paul Harrington's squad a game behind the unbeaten Storm in the Missota Conference standings.

"It was a great battle for first place," Harrington said. "Both teams played hard and fought to the end. They just managed to score one more run."

The Tigers jumped on top 1-0 with an unearned run in the first but the Storm came right back with a two-spot in the bottom of the inning.

Allie Rice's two-run homer, her second in the last two games, gave the visitors back the lead in the third but once again Chanhassen answered with a pair of scores in the bottom of the inning.

Another home run, a solo shot by Ellen Wurst, re-tied the game in the fourth for the final Farmington run of the afternoon.

"We had at least a half dozen hard-hit balls that went right at their fielders," Harrington said. "Finding holes was difficult today. We couldn't get a break."

Chanhassen touched Tiger pitcher Ashley Betzold for 13 hits in handing the junior righthander her first loss of the season.

The Tigers don't have much time to dwell on the loss. Tuesday and Wednesday they entertain New Prague and Red Wing at Tiger Field and Friday they travel to Shakopee for another Missota Conference game.

Baseball: Ellis sparks Tigers to 6-2 win over Storm

Jonathan Ellis allowed four hits in his second straight complete game (photo by Jim Lindquist)

 Jonathan Ellis pitched his second straight complete game to pace the Tigers to a 6-2 win over Chanhassen Monday afternoon at Tiger Field.

The victory halted a five-game losing skid for Farmington (2-5) and gave the locals their first Missota Conference win of the season.

"This was a big win to start a four-game week," Tiger coach Mike Winters said. "Their pitcher did a good job of changing speeds but we did a better job of putting the ball in play."

The visitors led 2-1 heading into the bottom of third when the Tigers erupted for three runs on RBI hits by John Stibal, Nick Newman and Johnny Dittman. Spencer Merle and Drew Hegseth also hit safely in the five-hit uprising.

A single by Ty Vincent and a run-scoring hit by John Stibal made in 5-2 in the fourth before a double by Jordan Lugowski and a single by Vincent closed the scoring in the sixth.

Ellis allowed just five hits and two eared runs in going the distance and picked up his first win of the season. Ellis has allowed just four runs in his last two starts.

Stibal hit safely in his seventh straight game, going 3-4 with a pair of runs batted in. Jake Baskerville, Vincent, and Newman each collected two hits.

The Tigers will be on the road the rest of the week: Tuesday at New Prague; Wednesday at Red Wing and Friday at St. Cloud Apollo.

Four Tigers honored at All-State Swim Banquet

 All-state honorees (l to r) Zoe Avestruz, Kirsten Kracke, Abby Haugen, Kaitlyn O'Reilly with coach Jen Marshall

 

Farmington's Fab Four from the 2012 Class AA girls state meet were among the honorees at the All-State Swimming and Diving Banquet held Friday, Apr. 13, at the Prom Center in Oakdale.

Kaitlyn O'Reilly received all-state recognition in three events: the 100 backstroke, 200 individual medley and 200 medley relay.

Zoe Avestruz earned all-state honors in the 50 freestyle and 200 medley relay and Abby Haugen and Kirsten Kracke garnered all-state status in the 200 medley relay.

Tiger Scoreboard: April 24, 2012

Baseball
Farmington 6 Chanhassen 2

Softball
Chanhassen 5 Farmington 4 (8 innings)

Boys Tennis
Chanhassen 6 Farmington 1

Boys Golf
Chanhassen Invitational at Deer Run Golf Club
New Prague 291, Chaska 306, Chanhassen 307, Orono 307, Winona 308, Edina 309, Shakopee 329, Farmington 329

Girls Golf
Missota Conference Meet #1 at Fountain Valley Golf Course
Red Wing 333, New Prague 335, Chanhassen 350, Chaska 355, Northfield 372, Shakopee 393, Holy Angels 395, Farmington 455

Girls Lacrosse: Last second goal stuns Tigers

Jess Erchul 3 goals (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Rosemount scored the game-winner with 2.2 seconds remaining in regulation to hand the Tigers a 9-8 loss last Friday at Tiger Stadium.  The defeat was the second by a single goal in as many days for Farmington who lost 8-7 to Eastview in overtime on Thursday.

The loss dropped the tough-luck Tigers to 1-3 for the season..

"We gave them the game," coach Dan Pickens said. " We didn’t play a very good first half, but we still were able to get a 6-1 lead.  We knew that we could play better in the second half, but couldn’t get anything going. "

Pickens said the contest was not without its positives and praised Jessica Erchul and defender Kaeli Haleverson for their play.

"Jess played a great game and really took control of the offense by scoring 3 unassisted goals," he said, "and Kaeli came up with some big turnovers when we needed them."

Haley Bradshaw the team's lading scorer, added two goals and Adrienne Jolicoeur, Shelby Klotz and Michaela Tonsager each scored once for the Tigers. Betsy Anderson added an assist.

" We will re-focus this week and get back to playing our game," Pickens said. "I know these seniors will get us turned around; they are great leaders."

Tuesday the Tigers venture to Rochester for a game with Century and Thursday they host Chaska/Chanhassen at Tiger Stadium.

Lorencz KARE11 Prep Athlete of the Week

(photo by Jim Lindquist)

Tiger junior Nadia Lorencz's three impressive wins at a triangular track meet at Lakeville last Friday has helped earned her a rare distinction.

Well-known KARE11 sports anchor Randy Shaver will make a stop at practice Monday afternoon and that evening will honor Lorencz as one of the NBC affiliate's Prep Athletes of the Week.

Lorencz, who placed second in vaulting at the 2012 Class AA state gymnastics meet, won the 100-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump at the Lakeville meet and owns some of the best marks in the state in those events this spring.

Boys Lacrosse: OT win moves Tigers to 3-1

Trevor Howard 3 goals vs. South (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Corey Rudrud scored on a breakaway in overtime to give the Tigers a hard-earned 10-9 win over Lakeville South Saturday night at Lakeville North Stadium.

The victory was the second straight for resurgent Farmington and ran its season record to 3-1.

"Another team win playing Farmington Tiger lacrosse," coach Paul Sorensen said. "We killed off seven man-down situations, including one in the last four minutes (of regulation) and one in the first 1:30 of overtime.

"The key to our success is perseverance through any situation. Band together and keep on fighting."

The game was a back-and-forth affair with neither team able to distance itself from the other. The contest was tied at 3-3 at halftime with the Tigers holding on to a slim 6-5 lead entering the final period.

Farmington continued to win with a balanced  scoring attack. Trevor Howard netted three goals and Rudrud and Brendon Berg each scored twice. Matt Ackerman, Jake Bauman and Garrett Gunderson also had a goal for the winners.

Charlie Weierke worked the net for Farmington and registered his third win with nine saves.

"Charlie came up huge on some key man-down situations," Sorensen said. "He made big saves all night long." 

The only downside of the victory was the loss of  Mitch Collier to injury. The senior leader suffered a broken leg in the contest and will miss the remainder of the season.

"Mitch is our inspirational leader and a team captain," Sorensen said. "He will be sorely missed."

Tuesday the Tigers host Rochester Century at Tiger Stadium and Thursday they travel to Woodbury for a match with East Ridge.

Softball: Tigers roll to fifth straight win

Taylor Yousse (left) RBI single 
(file photo by Jim Lindquist)

Ashley Betzold hurled a five-hit shutout and struck out 13 as the Tigers stretched their unbeaten streak to five games with an 8-0 win over Section 1 rival Rochester Mayo Friday afternoon in Rochester.

"The girls got a little revenge for last year when Mayo beat them in the playoffs," Tiger coach Paul Harrington said, "but we could see them down the road in a bigger section game this year."

Betzold was in control throughout and her teammates provided plenty of support, scoring seven runs over the middle three innings.

RBI singles by Rachel Brietich, Taylor Yousse and Betzold produced three runs in the third and Molly Berdan's two-run double accounted for two of the three Farmington scores in the fourth.

"Molly's double gave us some breathing room," Harrington said. "The bottom end of our batting order started our big rallies in the third and fourth."

Allie Rice singled to lead off the fifth and pinch-runner Hailey Monroe later scored on a fielder's choice for the seventh run and Rice led off the seventh inning with a solo home run to close the scoring.

Betzold and Rice continued to pace the Farmington offense, each coming up with a pair of hits and a run batted in.

Betzold walked only one batter in posting her second shutout of the season.

Next up for the Tigers is a Monday trip to Chanhassen for a showdown with the unbeaten Storm. Tuesday they host New Prague and Wednesday Red Wing comes to town before they close out their busy week with a road contest at Shakopee.

Tiger Scoreboard: April 22, 2012

Boys Lacrosse
Farmington 10 Lakeville South 9 (OT)

Baseball: Bad first inning sinks Tigers

Nathan Graham RBI single in 1st inning
(file photo by Jim Lindquist)

Shakopee scored five two-out runs in the top of the first inning and cruised to a 12-3 Missota Conference win over the Tigers Friday afternoon at Tiger Field.

The loss was the fifth straight for Farmington (1-5) and dropped the local nine to 0-5 in league play.

"The first inning set the tone," Tiger coach Mike Winters said, "especially since they had two outs and no one on...

"We fought back in the bottom of the first, but never got anything going after that. They stayed ahead of our hitters and we never strung any hits together."

The Tigers scored all of their runs in the home half of the first. Spencer Merle singled and Jordan Lugowski doubled to start the inning and Nathan Graham and Ty Vincent followed with RBI singles.

Merle started on the hill and surrendered eight runs before departing with one out in the third. Graham gave up three runs in 1.3 innings before Drew Hegseth mopped up with a three-inning stint of one-run relief.

The Tigers will be looking to halt their five-game skid Monday when they entertain Chanhassen. Tuesday they travel to New Prague followed by a Wednesday game at Red Wing and a Friday match-up at St. Cloud Apollo.

Girls Track: Tigers shine in improv triangular

Junior Nadia Lorencz won the 100-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump. (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Weather forced cancellation of Thursday's running of the Farmington Invitational but Tiger coach Tom Hart came up with an alternative for Friday when Lakeville South called and proposed an informal triangular with South and Eagan.

The weather cooperated and although no points were kept and no relays run, the Tigers had a very productive day.

Nadia Lorencz, Alyssa Parco and Izzie Ferm did most of the damage for the Tigers, combining to win six individual events.

Lorencz had an outstanding day, winning three events and breaking two school records in the process.  She led the field in the 100-meter hurdles (14.99); triple jump (37-2) and long jump (18-1). Her hurdles time and triple jump distance bettered school marks she set last spring.

Parco opted out of her signature 300-meter hurdle race and instead ran three sprint events. She won the 100-meter dash (12.81) and 200-meter dash (26.22) and claimed fourth in the 400-meter run. Her winning time in the 200 was the fifth best ever at FHS ; her 200 time ranks sixth .

Ferm won the 400-meter run in 1:00.89, the fifth fastest ever by a Tiger, and ranked third in the 200-meter dash and long jump.

Aly Grebner ranked second in the shot put and Maria Kiminski placed fourth in the 800-meter run.

Freshman Destiny Schmitz ranked third in the high jump and fifth in the triple jump. Another ninth-grader, Megan Graham took fifth in the 400-meter run.

"We had a great night with some outstanding performances," Hart said. " Every one of our ladies competed and our times and distances improved.

"Nadia had a crazy day. Alyssa ran some personal bests and Izzie looked great in the 200 and 400. The list just keeps going on... I am so proud of our team."

Tuesday the Tigers travel to Eagan for the Wildcat Invitational.

Tiger Scoreboard: April 21, 2012

Softball
Farmington 8 Rochester Mayo 0

Girls Lacrosse
Rosemount 9 Farmington 8

Baseball
Shakopee 12 Farmington 3

Boys Lacrosse: Team effort produces second win

Kevin Clifton (below), Jake Bauman and Mitch Collier
each scored a pair of goals

The Tigers rebounded from last week's loss to Lakeville North with a solid 7-4 road win over Chaska/Chanhassen Thursday night.

The victory was Farmignton's second in three tries and gives Paul Sorensen's squad one more win than it had all of last season.

"Tonight's MVP award goes to the entire team," Sorensen said. "This is the most complete game we've played on both sides of the ball in my three years here...We played with effort, heart and with the expectation that we would win."

The visitors trailed 2-0 after one period but scored the next four goals to take a 4-2 edge into the final period.

"I was proud of the way we stepped up after being in the early 2-0 hole," Sorensen said. "We battled back and overcame one quarter at a time."

Kevin Clifton, Jake Bauman and Mitch Collier each scored twice to pace the offense. Matt Ackerman added the seventh goal for the winners. Trevor Howard picked up two assists and Bauman had one.

Goalkeeper Charlie Weierke had another productive night in net, stopping 10 of the 14 shots he faced.

Sorensen said his defense also played a key role in the victory.

"They played as a unit and were active from start to finish," he said.

The Tigers will be looking for their third win of the season Saturday night when they take on Lakeville South at Lakeville North stadium.

Tiger Scoreboard: April 20, 2012

Boys Lacrosse
Farmington 7 Chaska/Chanhassen 4

Tiger Scoreboard: April 19, 2012

Boys Golf
Prior Lake Invitational at the Wilds Golf Club
Edina 299, Chaska 300, Lakeville South 301, Benilde-St. Margaret's 309, Lakeville North 310, New Prague 311, Bloomington Jefferson 311, Chanhassen 315, Shakopee 318, Eagan 320, Hill-Murray 330, Apple Valley 335, Burnsville 336, Holy Angels 337, Fariabult 345, Farmington 351, Mankato East 352, Bloomington Kennedy 353

Softball: 7th inning rally keeps Tigers unbeaten

Ashley Betzold
5-5, 2 rbi, pitching victory
(photo by Jim Lindquist)

Through its first three games the Tigers used pitching and defense to stay unbeaten. In their fourth, it was the offense that carried the day.

Farmington erupted for seven runs in the top of the seventh inning to post a come-from-behind 9-4 Missota Conference victory at Chaska Tuesday afternoon.

The win left the girls tied with Chanhassen atop the conference standings with a perfect 4-0 mark.

"That's three times in our four games that the other team has led at some point of the game," Tiger coach Paul Harrington said, "but each time we have found a way to come back...This was our first road game and a big win for us."

The Tigers scored first with a run in the third inning on a double by Brooke Searles and back-to-back singles by Ashley Betzold and Allie Rice.

Chaska countered with two runs in the bottom of the inning and another in the fourth.

A single by Betzold and a rbi double by Rice pulled the visitors to within a run in the fifth inning but heading into the their last at-bat the Tigers were staring at a 4-2 deficit.

Allie Rice
3-5, 3 rbi
(photo by Jim Lindquist)

That's about the time time the Farmington offense arrived on the scene.

"I think our bats must have stuck in rush hour traffic," Harrington said.

All in all, Farmington sent 11 batters to plate in the uprising and seven of them scored. Betzold had two hits in the inning, including a two-run single that closed out the scoring.

Taylor Yousse, Toni Hunsinger, Taylor Haakana, Mollly Berdan and Rice also had hits in the rally and Searles drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Betzold had a hitter's dream day, going 5-5 at the plate with a pair of runs batted in. Rice rapped three hits and also knocked in three runs.

Betzold earned her fourth pitching win of the young season, giving up a dozen hits to a good-hitting Chaska team. Farmington finished with a season-high 14 hits.

The defense made a season-high three errors but came up big when the Tigers wiggled their way out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation in the fourth with only run scored. Haakana's shoe-string catch of a fly ball in right field ended the Hawk threat.

Farmington will be looking for win No. 5 Thursday when it entertains New Prague at Tiger Field. Friday the Tigers travel to Rochester to take on Section 1 rival Mayo.

Boys Golf: Rough going at the Wilds

After an impressive first meet on its home course the Tiger scores soared in its second outing, a 17th place finish at the 19-team Prior Lake Invitational played at the Wilds Golf Club.

Edina edged Missota Conference power 299-300 to take home the championship trophy. The Tigers totaled 351 strokes (low four scores) to finish behind conference rivals New Prague (311), Chanhassen 315, Shakopee (318) and Holy Angels (337).

"After playing two quality rounds in a row, we really took it on the chin," coach Jon Holmes said. "The conditions were ripe for scoring and for some reason or another we all just tanked."

Holmes said that he generally doesn't like to count any score above 85 and this round only two players, Tommy May and Ryan Kelly, made that with identical 85's. No one else managed to break 90.

"Something was definitely in the Farmignton water out there that made it rough going for our entire team," Holmes said

The Tigers will be looking to bounce back next Monday when they travel to Deer Run Golf Club for the Chanhassen Invitational. The following day they go to Stonebrooke Golf Club for the first of five Missota Conference tournaments.

Twelve players will take part in Monday's meet with all varsity lineup spots up for grabs.

"I would expect we will bounce back with a sense of vengeance and urgency," Holmes said.

Boys Track: Running with the best

Reid Taubenheim cleared 11-6 in the pole vault for 4th place
(photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington hosted some of the best teams in the metro area at its annual invitational meet Tuesday afternoon at Tiger Stadium.

Rosemount edged cross-district rival Eagan 156-155.3 for the team title. Woodbury ranked third at 127, followed by three Missota Conference schools. Red Wing scored 41 points, New Prague 40.33 and Farmington 34.33.

"We had a lot of great things happen in this meet," coach Brian Helmstetter said. "The expectations were to compete with the conference schools at the meet. This was an impressive meet with some of the state's best teams on our track in Eagan, Rosemount, and Woodbury."

The Tiger 4x800 meter relay team of Chad Retterath, Trevor Breezley, Eric Stoeckman and Tyler Lerbakken started the meet well for the locals with a third place finish in 8:35.73.

Freshman distance runner Justin Hyytinen continued to impress, placing third in the 3200-meter run in 10:09.8.

Dan Berg tied for 6th in the high jump with a leap of 5-8
(photo by Jim Lindquist)

Jumper Justin Hett took fourth in both the triple jump and high jump and Reid Taubenheim was fourth in the pole vault.

The 4x400 relay quartet of Alex Chadwick, Josh Baker, Tommy Weigel and Lerbakken also scored fourth place points.

Lerbakken finished fifth in the 400-meter dash and four Tigers earned a point for placing sixth: Troy Hoffman, 200-meter dash; Connor Phu, pole vault, Zach Steffen, 3200-meter run and Weigel, 400-meter dash. High jumper Dan Berg tied for sixth place.

"We had 29 individuals and two relay teams reach their personal bests," Helmstetter said. "We are improving which is what we are pushing for our boys to do each and every day."

Next Tuesday the Tigers venture to Eagan for the annual Wildcat Invitational.

Girls Soccer: Lightning strike Tigers in OT

Ally Midboe scored her 4th goal of the season
(file photo by Jim Lindquist)

Eastview scored in a second sudden death overtime to edge the Tigers 8-7 in an exciting game played Tuesday night in Apple Valley.

The loss came less than 24 hours after Farmington defeated Lakeville South in another hotly-contested game but according to coach Dan Pickens the back-to-back situation didn't slow down his team.

"The girls had the stamina all the way through the second overtime period," he said. "They worked hard, played well and should be proud of themselves."

The score was knotted 4-4 at the halftime break and the game was still tied at 6-6 with 50 seconds to play thanks to Haley Bradshaw's third goal of the night.

Rachel Welzin made it 7-6 for the visitors with her second score of the game 20 seconds later but Eastview managed to tie the count with just 6.6 seconds left to force overtime.

Ally Midboe and Michaela Tonsager also scored for the Tigers. Tonsager's goal was her first as a varsity player.

"We certainly ran into a good goalie," Pickens said. "She is just a junior and has already committed to a Division I school on the east coast."

Pickens added that Tiger netminder Maddie Kohlbeck also had a big night in the losing effort.

"Their goalie was the real deal but Maddie matched her shot for shot," he said.

The Lightning outshot the Tigers 19-18 for the game.

"The girls played great," Pickens concluded. "We just didn't get the bounces in overtime."

Frdiay night the Tigers (1-2) will be looking to even their season record when they entertain Rosemount in a Youth Night game.

Baseball: Another hard-luck loss

Spencer Merle
2-3, rbi vs. Chaska

Chaska scored two runs in the first inning and then snuffed out a seventh inning Tiger rally to score a 2-1 Missota Conference win Tuesday afternoon at Tiger Field.

The loss was the fourth straight for the Tigers and dropped them to 1-4 overall and 0-4 in conference play. Two of those losses have been by one run.

"Situational hitting has been our biggest downfall," coach Mike Winters said. "In the one-run loss to Holy Angels we had the winning runs in scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings and couldn't score....Today, even though we only had only three hits, we stranded six runners in scoring position and had the tying run on third in the seventh."

Ryan Schoening led off the seventh with a walk and came around to score on Spencer Merle's two-out triple for the Tigers' lone run.

Merle had two of the three Farmington hits in the contest. John Stibal, who stretched his hitting streak to five games, had the other Tiger safety.

The loss spoiled a quality pitching performance by Jonathan Ellis who pitched a complete-game, five-hitter. Both of Chaska's first-inning runs were unearned.

"Overall we have played pretty good defense," Winters said, "but untimely two-out errors have cost us runs."

Thursday the Tigers travel to New Prague for a conference encounter with the Trojans before returning home Friday for a league contest with Shakopee.

Boys Tennis: Tigers fall at Red Wing 6-1

Bennett Lagro
6-7(3), 6-4, 10-7 (tie-breaker) winner at No. 4 singles

Farmington opened its Missota Conference season the hard way with a trip to Red Wing to face a team expected to battle for the league title.

The Wingers lived up to their reputation with a convincing 6-1 win.

"They are the strongest team we have faced the year," coach Jack Olwell said, "especially at the top of their lineup where they return the top two players in the conference."

The lone Farmington point came at fourth singles where Bennett Lagro upped his record to 4-1 with a hard-fought 6-7(3), 6-4, 1-7 (tie-breaker) win.

"Overall we were on the defensive from the beginning," Olwell said. "It wasn't for lack of effort. In fact, in all of the singles matches, most points were fairly long with Red Wing gradually building an advantage."

The Tigers (1-4) close out their busy week Thursday with a home-court match with conference rival Chanhassen at the Boeckman Middle School courts.

Tiger Scoreboard: April 18, 2012

Baseball
Chaska 2 Farmington 1

Softball
Farmington 9 Chaska 4

Boys Tennis
Red Wing 6 Farmington 1

Boys Track
Farmington Invitational
Rosemount 156. Eagan 155.33, Woodbury 127, Red Wing 41.33, New Prague 40, Farmington 34.33

Girls Lacrosse
Eastview 8 Farmington 7

Girls Lacrosse: Tigers rally for 12-10 win over South

Haley Bradshaw 4 goals, 1 assist
(photo by Jim Lindquist)

A week of practice after a season-opening loss to Lakeville North proved to be just what the doctor ordered as the Tigers rallied for a 12-10 win over Lakeville Monday afternoon at Tiger Stadium.

Team captains Haley Bradshaw (4), Ally Midboe (3), Adrienne Jolicoeur 2) and Jessica Erchul (2) accounted for 11 of the 12 Tiger goals. Rachel Welzin added the other score for the winners.

Bradshaw and Midboe also had assists as did Betsy Anderson and Michaela Tonsager.

"Our captains and other senior leaders really took control for us," coach Dan Pickens said. "We lost to them (South) in double overtime last year and they were ready for us and we still got them."

Defender Kylee Glen splits two defenders
(photo by Jim Lindquist)

The offense did its job but Pickens said the defense and goalkeeper Maddie Kohlbeck also played major roles in the win.

"Kelli Harstad did a great job of leading the defense which made adjustments after South led at halftime," he said. "The defense shut down their top players who were scoring in the first half."

Kohlbeck came up with six key saves for the Tigers who were facing a 5-4 deficit at the halftime break.

"You have no idea how good this feels to have one of these games go our way," Pickens said. "We lost a bunch of one and two-goal games last year...The girls worked hard and they deserved it."

Pickens is hoping the good feeling continues Tuesday when the Tigers look for a second straight win, this one at Eastview.

Boys Tennis: Tigers blank Falcons for first win

Jeff Zakoski (below) and Tyler Olson won 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 1 doubles

Farmington dominated in every flight in a 7-0 shutout victory over Faribault Monday afternoon at the Boeckman Middle School courts.

The convincing win was the first of the year for the Tigers who upped their record to 1-3 heading into Missota Conference play this week.

"It was a miserable day but we played decent tennis," Tiger coach Jack Olwell said. "We played well and really did not lose focus in any match for very long. We had a couple of hiccups at first doubles but they finished strong to win in three sets."

Blake Olmscheid, Ben Cline, Ivan Rodriguez and Bennett Lagro won their singles matches with Rodriguez and Lagro each running their individual records to 3-1.

In doubles play, the first tandem of Tyler Olson and Jeff Zakoski won 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the tightest match of the day.

"They had their strongest net play of the season," Olwell said.

The No. 2 and No. 3 duos of Austin Tremmel/Trent Kortenbusch and Austin Rau/Jon Zakoski each won in straight sets.

The Tigers are hoping the win builds a little momentum as they kick off their conference campaign Tuesday afternoon at Red Wing.

Girls Golf: Tigers open at Faribault

Brianna Swenson
Low Farmington scorer ar Faribault


The young and inexperienced Tigers got a lesson in varsity golf competition last Saturday at the Faribault Invitational played at the Legacy Golf Club.

With just one letterwinner from last year's team in the lineup, Farmington trailed the 12-team field.

Missota Conference power New Prague grabbed the team title with 331 strokes. St.
Croix Lutheran placed second at 338, followed by Prior Lake 340, Providence Academy 354, Owatonna 357, Chanhassen 362, Benilde-St. Margaret's 395, Totino Grace 437, Lakeville South 437, Kasson-Mantorville 448, Faribault 454 and Farmington 545.

Brianna Swenson shot the low Farmington round, finishing at 110. Amanda Steinkeoway carded 140, Halea Wright 147, Kaitlin Jokinen 148 and Jessica Singewald 156.

"This meet was a learning opportunity," coach Jon Stock said. "Our team is made up of many new players and for many it was their first meet.

"These girls are committed and have already shown improvement. They are all looking forward to their next chance to compete."

That opportunity comes Monday, Apr. 23, when the Tigers host the first Missota Conference meet of the season at Fountain Valley Golf Course.