By Jacob Tellers
jacob.tellers@albertleatribune.com

LAKE MILLS — After the Northwood-Kensett baseball team defeated North Iowa during the regular season, the Bison won the postseason rematch.

The Vikings’s season ended with a 13-1 loss in the Class 1A, District 4 playoffs Monday at Lake Mills.

North Iowa scored two runs in each of the first two innings, but it was an eight run outburst in the fourth inning that put the game out of reach for Northwood-Kensett.

When the two teams met during the regular season on June 10, Northwood-Kensett erased a three-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 15-14.

According to Northwood-Kensett coach Mike Reindl, the difference between the two games was that on Monday the Vikings’ pitchers got into tough situations and too many runners were stranded.

“They made good swings,” Reindl said. “We fell behind on the count and had to give them good pitches to hit, and they did a real good job.”

Five fielding errors by the Vikings gave North Iowa extra chances to score, and the Bison took advantage.

“We’ve got to make the outs when they give them to us, and we didn’t do a real good job of that,” Reindl said. “Give them (North Iowa) credit. They hit the ball hard. They put the ball in play.”

Despite the errors, there were some bright spots in Northwood-Kensett’s defensive play. The Vikings recorded double plays in two consecutive innings.

With one out in the fourth inning, Vikings third baseman Gage Tenold caught a low line drive and then threw the ball across the infield to first baseman Zach Costello who tagged a North Iowa runner out to end the inning.

In the fifth inning, quick throws to second and first after an infield grounder resulted in the Vikings second double play of the game.

Offensively, the Vikings stranded eight runners in scoring position through five innings.

“The first inning we had bases loaded, the second inning we had runners on second and third. The third inning we had runners on second and third,” Reindl said. “We just didn’t get our (timely) hits.”

Brandon Severson took the mound in relief of Trevor Varner with one out left in the fourth inning.

Reindl said he considered moving to the bullpen earlier in the game, but he didn’t think the change would help as the two players had similar pitching styles.

Varner led the Vikings at the plate by going 2-for-3. Severson scored Northwood-Kensett’s only run in the first inning.

The Vikings finished the regular season with a 3-20 record, but Reindl was hopeful that his team will improve next year.

He said the Vikings were a young team this season with only three seniors, which means the majority of his players will be back next summer.

“We’re going to be ok,” he said. “We have a good group of young kids. The baseball in Northwood is going to be alright in the future.”