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Strong pitching leads the way at St. Francis, Elk River

By DAVID LA VAQUE, Star Tribune, 05/07/13, 7:02PM CDT

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St. Francis brothers-in-arms Josh and Lucas Niemeyer keyed the Saints’ 5-1 start in baseball with a combined 4-0 record on the mound.

Each picked up a victory in the season-opening Princeton Tournament and won again on the same day last week. Josh, a sophomore, struck out 12 Spring Lake Park batters and gave up no earned runs in a 5-3 victory on April 30.

Not to be outdone by his younger brother, Lucas, a junior, won the night cap against Benilde-St. Margaret’s. He struck out six Red Knights in six innings of work and permitted no earned runs in an 11-4 romp.

Pipenhagen shines

Elk River softball pitcher Anna Pipenhagen paced the Elks’ two victories May 4 against Richfield and Duluth East. Pipenhagen, a junior, pitched a total of 10 innings, giving up no runs, three hits, four walks and striking out 20 batters. Elk River bashed Richfield 17-0 in five innings and blanked Duluth East 7-0.

Coaching moves

Park Center girls’ basketball coach Patty Sorensen has retired after 15 years with the Pirates and 25 years overall. The Pirates reached the Class 3A, Section 3 finals the past three seasons … Andover announced Melissa Sailor as the new girls’ hockey coach. From the press release: “Melissa was able to separate herself from the rest. We are excited to put a strong, poised, confident female out in front of our young ladies as a positive role model.” Sailor has been an assistant coach at Andover the past two seasons. She played four years at St. Olaf after graduating from Irondale.

Streaks and stats

Averaging a robust 6.2 runs per game, the Maple Grove softball team is off to a 5-0 start this season … The Anoka softball team started the season 4-0, averaging 5.75 runs per game … Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony sprinter Grant Walter clocked a time of 11.02 seconds in the 100-meter dash, a sub-state qualifying mark … Walter’s teammate C.J. Janu has posted times in the 110 and 300 hurdles that are faster than the state meet qualifying standards … Mounds View junior Sola Olateju has the spring’s best triple jump, a leap of 44 feet, five inches … Blaine junior Caleb Butler’s discus throw of 164 feet, 1 inch is tops among Class 2A competitors this spring.

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