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Softball no-no: Eagan

HawkEye — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:40:08 -0500

Softball no-no: Eagan sophomore pitcher Sara Moulton fired a no-hitter on Thursday as the top-ranked Wildcats blanked Chaska 3-0.
Eagan got a run in the fifth inning and added two more in the sixth.
The Hawks are now 6-14 going into the playoffs and finished 3-11 in the Lake.

Some stats: Brad Hand is now

HawkEye — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:24:24 -0500

Some stats:
Brad Hand is now 5-1 on the season with two saves, 65 strikeouts and a 0.55 earned-run average.
He has surrendered 18 hits and three earned runs while walking 25 in 38-1/3 innings.
Hitting-wise, he has a .333 average (18-for-54) with two doubles, a triple and five home runs. He is second on the team to Adam Peterson in RBI with 14.

Cory Glieden is hitting .375 (24-for-64) with five doubles, a triple and seven RBI. He leads the Hawks with 15 runs scored. He is 4-for-4 in stolen bases and has drawn seven walks.

John Straka is batting .255 (13-for-51) with four doubles and a home run and 10 RBI.
He is 3-3 as a pitcher, with 47 strikeouts and just seven walks in 43-2/3 innings. Straka has tossed four complete games, including a nine-inning win over Lakeville North and a 1-0 loss to Apple Valley, and has an ERA of 1.28.

Rainy weather Tuesday pushed

HawkEye — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:35:37 -0500

Rainy weather Tuesday pushed back the Hawks' section match at Orono to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Spartans bested the Hawks 5-2 on May 8, in Chaska's regular-season finale.

Well, Molly, at least you

Ruth Anne Maddox — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:08:02 -0500

Well, Molly, at least you made the list. The site told me "Ruth+Anne is not in the top 1000 names for any year of birth in the last 200 years. Please enter another name."

Just choosing Ruth (which I NEVER go by since I'm a two-name girl), I found it to be #113 in popularity the year of my birth . It made it to #3 in 1893 and was in the top 5 several times between 1892 and 1922 -- woo hoo!

No wonder I never find my name on personalized trinkets at craft fairs (maybe I should check antique shops).

By the way, my in-laws have a collie named Molly.

Sadly Molly is a more

Mollee Francisco — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:12:21 -0500

Sadly Molly is a more popular name for dogs than humans. What can I say except "woof"?

(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

Go No. 138! Unfortunately,

Mark Olson — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:41:36 -0500

Go No. 138!

Unfortunately, "Mark" hasn't cracked the top 5 over the past 128 years, instead peaking at No. 6 from 1959 to 1964.

This is a pretty fascinating site, especially the popular names of yesteryear.

Drake to NCAAS Drake was

HawkEye — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:50:33 -0500

Drake to NCAAS

Drake was picked ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason coaches’ poll, but the Bulldogs were No. 1 when it counts most.

Drake topped Missouri State 7-2 on Saturday afternoon to win the MVC Tournament and nab an automatic bid to the NCAA Softball Tournament.

Brynne Dordel allowed six hits, walked five batters and struck out six, but allowed Missouri State only single runs in the second and fourth innings.

Dordel, now 19-10 in her freshman college season, was awarded as the MVC Tournament MVP.

Drake, 29-24 on the season, awaits the regional selections from the NCAA on Sunday. The Bulldogs will be back in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history, after making their debut in 1994.

Dordel does it again

HawkEye — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:13:17 -0500

Dordel does it again ...

Drake had just one hit against Creighton on Saturday in the MVC semifinals, but they had Brynne Dordel on the mound.

Dordel had a shutout going into the seventh inning, before yielding a home run, a double and an RBI groundout.

But Creighton got no closer as the Bulldogs prevailed 3-2.
Dordel struck out 11 and walked two while tossing 132 pitches (80 for strikes). She struck out the side in the first and third innings.

Dordel moved into third place on the Drake single-season strikeout chart while notching her 18th win of the season.

Drake remained perfect against the Blue Jays in Tournament play (4-0), although the Bulldogs were swept in the regular season by Creighton.

Drake will face No. 7 seeded Missouri State in the championship game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Midwest with former Drake head coach Laura Leonard and RC McBride calling the action.

The build up to the game could not be any steeper as Drake returns to the MVC Championship game for the first time since losing to Missouri State in the 1997 finals, while the Bears had to knock off No. 6 seeded Evansville, No. 3 seeded Southern Illinois and No. 2 seeded Illinois State over the last two days to reach the finals.

The Bulldogs hold a 1-1 record against Missouri State MVC Championship games, while trailing the Bears 3-5 in overall tournament games.

Drake is in its first MVC championship-game berth since 1997.

Dordel won her 17th game of

HawkEye — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:31:39 -0500

Dordel won her 17th game of the season Thursday as Drake beat Witchita State 8-4 in the MVC Tournament in Carbondale, Ill.

Dordel scattered eight hits over 4-2/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) with two walks and a strikeout.

Drake's Jaci Faidley hit a two-run home run in the first inning, a three-run home run in the fourth inning and a two-run, inside-the-park home run in the sixth inning to set two MVC Tournament records for single-game home runs and RBI.

The Bulldogs (27-24 overall) will next face top-seeded Creighton at noon on Friday.

The Minnesota River

Mark Olson — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:49:20 -0500

The Minnesota River canoeists continue to plug their way up the Minnesota River, against quite a current (the Minnesota River seems to be up several feet after recent rains).

Here's their Web site, which has a number of news stories, updates and contact info on the pair:
www.colton-seanhudsonbay.com/

Paul Bunyan was a well-known

Mark Olson — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:30:42 -0500

Paul Bunyan was a well-known Scandinavian. He made lutefisk out of humpback whales and carved Dala horses out of giant redwoods.

How large can lefse actually

Mollee Francisco — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:18:34 -0500

How large can lefse actually get??? Is that with butter and sugar or without?

(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

World's largest lefse? This

Mark Olson — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:03:12 -0500

World's largest lefse? This notice, from Explore Minnesota tourism, was too good to pass up:

The city of Starbuck will hold the 22nd Annual Lefse Dagen celebration on Saturday, May 17, to commemorate the creation of the world’s largest lefse.

Festivities will include musical entertainment and sing-alongs, a gathering of the original bakers, lots of lefse rolling and samples, a Scandinavian lunch, and an open house at the Starbuck Depot Square.

More info: (320) 239-4604 or www.starbuckmn.org

Those who really enjoyed

Mark Olson — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:45:37 -0500

Those who really enjoyed Syttende Mai with the Nordic Heritage Club, can continue celebrating with the Vestland Lodge, Sons of Norway, which will celebrate Syttende Mai with a "Kold Bord" at its 7 p.m., May 20 meeting.

The event is at the Minnetonka Community Center, 14600 Minnetonka Blvd. Call (952) 938-2920 for more information.

My favorite thing is being

shelleyb — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:02:12 -0500

My favorite thing is being able to just walk or bike to anything. You have restaurants, movies, the library, trails - the downtown area is really the jewel of this city. It's what makes us still a charming smalltown city and not just another suburban vanilla - need- to- ride- everywhere- mess.