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Though the two teams combined for 18 hits, it nonetheless was a pitcher's dual on Sunday afternoon in the championship bracket of the 2008 UMAC postseason tournament in Waconia, Minn.
The Saints used an RBI single by Betsy Wehseler (Ironton, Minn./Crosby-Ironton HS) that scored Robin Lake (Tamarack, Minn./McGregor HS) to break out on top of the LumberJills by a 1-0 score in the second inning.
Though they had their opportunities, Northland couldn't get to starting Saints pitcher Mary Jo McNamee (Escanaba, Mich./Escanaba Senior HS) over the first four innings but finally broke through for a tying run in their fifth.
St. Scholastica opened the 2008 tournament with a dismal loss to these same LumberJills, a defeat that put the Saints on the verge of elimination with one more loss. They stayed alive with an elimination game win over Martin Luther in their second game, then sent the regular season conference champion Eagles from Northwestern packing with a win in the next elimination game.
Northland, meanwhile, had sailed through their first two games with wins, meaning the Saints would have to knock off the 'Jills twice on Sunday to gain their seventh consecutive postseason conference title.
The taught game went into extra innings where, finally, Northland strung together three hits in the same inning for the first time in the game to produce the game-, and championship-winning run.
The loss ends the St. Scholastica season at 19-21 for the year and closes the book on the careers of three Saints seniors -- Katie Brown (Emmett, Idaho/Emmett HS), Gina Garramone (Duluth, Minn./Moorhead Senior HS), and Kayla Kahilainen (New York Mills, Minn./New York Mills HS).
