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Chanhassen scores big in the third and sixth innings to down Eden Prairie

By Brian Jerzak, SportsEngine, 04/21/17, 8:30AM CDT

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The Storm scored three in the third and four in the sixth en route to a 9-0 victory.



Chanhassen catcher Tori Tollefson stretches to make the tag and preserve the shutout. The Storm defeated Eden Prairie 9-0 on Friday night at Miller Park in Eden Prairie. Photo by Cheryl Myers, SportsEngine



The Chanhassen softball team had a busy day on Friday afternoon. The Storm, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A by the state coaches’ association, played twice and won twice. The first contest was against West Fargo, the premier team in North Dakota, on Chanhassen’s home field. Mere hours later, the Storm were disembarking from the short bus ride over to Miller Park in Eden Prairie to play the host Eagles.

The hectic schedule did little to slow down Chanhassen, as the Storm defeated the Packers 1-0 in the early game and the Eagles 9-0 in the evening fixture.

"We did the schedule on purpose," Chanhassen coach Joe Coenen said. "We feed off competition. We have a team that is built for competition. Our girls thrive on our tough schedule. We think it prepares us better so, hopefully, we will be ready for the section tournament."

Although they took care of business in both games, it was tough on the girls.

"It put stress on the girls," Coenen said, "but I think that is healthy for us. We hadn't played a seven-inning game up until last night against Jefferson. "

Including last night, the Storm has played twenty-one innings in twenty-four hours.

For the final game of the set, Coenen left the warm-ups up to the team.

"They didn't want to hit at all," Coenen said. "We don't need to swing the bats at all. They wanted to do an abbreviated infield – about four minutes."

Leaving decisions up to the players is something in which Coenen is comfortable.

"It is their team," Coenen said. "They make a lot of decisions on this team. I am okay with that. I allow them to make decisions on what they want to work on in practice a lot. I am from the era of ‘it's your team, so let's make it your team."

The coach trusts the team, and the team trusts each other.

"These girls have played together since third grade," Coenen said. "They have grown up together. I am in the right place at the right time. I try to be flexible and let them be who they are, and I think that has helped."


Eden Prairie's Isy Obiazor tags out Emily Saurer (28) at third. Photo by Cheryl Myers, SportsEngine

First Report

Playing in a third game in two days, Chanhassen traveled to Eden Prairie on Friday afternoon and defeated the Eagles 9-0.

The Storm broke the game open in the third inning with a three-run home run from Marybeth Olson. She would add another RBI later an inning later with a double to center.

Senior outfielder Alex Velazquez was 3-for-3 with a walk in her first four at bats and scored three runs for Chanhassen (6-0, 4-0) .

The Storm’s starting pitcher Maddie Schwartz was only really in danger of giving up a run in the first inning. With an Eden Prairie player attempting to tag up from third, senior right fielder Emily Saurer started a perfect relay to the plate to cut down the runner and end the inning. Schwartz moved the ball all around the strike zone all night and struck out six.

Eden Prairie (1-4, 1-1) got a solid pitching performance from sophomore Grace Sanford. Outside of two innings of giving up multiple runs, she was able to keep Chanhassen’s offense in check.


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Maddie Schwartz pitched a complete game shutout for the Storm. Photo by Cheryl Myers, SportsEngine

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