Henderson’s homers lift Chargers to sweep of BLHS

Staff photo by Ari Selvey
Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Briley Henderson (center with helmet) is swarmed by her teammates after hitting a grand slam in a Tomahawk Conference softball game against Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart on Tuesday at MVL high school.

NEW ULM — Minnesota Valley Lutheran held Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart to a single run in the final four innings of a Tomahawk Conference softball game, comeing back from a 12-6 deficit to win 14-13 and complete a doubleheader sweep on Tuesday.

MVL defeated BLHS 12-2 in five innings in Game 1.

Briley Henderson headlined the win in Game 2 for the Chargers, going 4 for 4 at the plate and homering twice while driving in eight runs.

“I think really [I was] just timing the ball up,” Henderson said. “And we hit a lot in practice. We do a lot of batting, some fielding too, but mostly batting.”

That batting practice has been paying off for the whole team as the Chargers have now won three straight on the basis of their hot hitting.

“We were making better contact on the ball the past three games now,” MVL head coach Katie Scherer said. “So that’s the biggest thing. We still committed the same errors that we’ve been committing, so we still need to work on those, but our bats were on fire the past two nights, and that’s helped a lot.”

It was also MVL’s closest game on the year, with the only other game within five runs being a 14-11 win over Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop to open the season.

“They have grit, they don’t let things get to them,” Scherer said. “Their mental toughness to bounce back — we did have some errors, we did struggle at the plate a couple innings, but their mental toughness really came into play, so it was great.”

Also at the plate in Game 2 for the Chargers, Karlee Prahl had a home run and three RBIs with two runs scored and a stolen base, while Jessica Meunier had a hit and three RBIs. Kenna Dressel added a hit, two runs scored and a stolen base and Grace Onken had a hit, a run scored and an RBI. Nora Grace Otto got the win in the circle, striking out one and allowing 12 hits in a complete game.

Henderson doubled in the top of the first and stole third to set up Prahl for a groundout RBI to open the scoring. BLHS responded with a run of their own, with Sadie Kirtz driving in Hallie Best. Both teams kept rolling in the second, with MVL pushing across five runs behind a Henderson grand slam and BLHS scoring four runs of their own.

BLHS took a 12-6 lead in the third after retiring three straight in the top of the inning and scoring seven in the bottom, getting some help from a pair of MVL errors and hits by Kirtz, Callie Hable and Makayla Henschke.

Henderson got the Chargers back on track with a two-run single in the fourth, then was brought home by a homer by Prahl to cut the lead to 12-10. The MVL defense tightened up in the bottom of the inning, with the infield executing a 6-4-3 double play.

“I think we really started working together more as a team,” Henderson said. “One team, one dream, one mindset. And the balls were being hit to the right places and we were able to make the right plays at the right time.”

Though BLHS added a run to the lead in the fifth, MVL surged ahead with a big sixth inning. After Dressel reached on an error, Henderson hit her second home run of the night to bring Dressel home. Prahl took first after being hit by a pitch and Ashlyn Rodewald drew a walk, then Orken hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put runners on the corners. Meunier then hit a two-run single to give the Chargers a 14-13 lead.

The MVL defense held on to retire six straight after a walk to start the sixth, sealing the win and the comeback for the team.

In Game 1 for the Chargers, Katlyn Stadick got the complete-game win, striking out eight while allowing two unearned runs on four hits. Henderson had another big game, going 3 for 4 with a triple, two doubles and three runs scored, while Rodewald was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Prahl was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a double, while Onken was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and a double.