Lakers hold off Watertown in CRVL North showdown

WACONIA – All season long the Watertown Red Devils have been able to find the big hits when needed. That wasn’t the case this time around in their matchup with Waconia as the Lakers were the ones coming through in big spots as they held on for a 5-4 victory over the Red Devils May 29 at Lions Field.
Watertown grabbed the lead in the top of the first on an RBI double from Chris Olson. From that point on it was the Lakers who took control of the game answering in the bottom half. AJ Friederich blasted a two-run home run to give Waconia the lead and the Lakers would hold onto that lead the rest of the way to get the win despite a rally by the Red Devils.
Leading by one entering the bottom of the fifth, Waconia was able to get the offense going once again. After Holt Hunziker retired 10 in a row after the home run by Friederich, Kodey Simon gave the Lakers their first base runner since the first inning with a leadoff single. Just two pitches later, Ronnie Olson delivered an RBI double to make it 3-1 Waconia. The Lakers weren’t done there though. With two outs, Derek Martin drove in two more runs with an RBI single to put his team up 5-1 after five innings.
Watertown got one run back in the sixth and two more in the top of the seventh thanks to a sacrifice fly from Olson and an RBI single from Zach Iten.
That’s as close as Watertown would get as Ryan Naughton closed the door in the eighth and ninth innings sealing a huge win for the Lakers.
The clutch hit evaded the Red Devils all game long as they were just 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position. In their previous game against Green Isle, Watertown scored 17 of their 19 runs with two outs.
With the win, Waconia improves to 4-1 on the season while the Red Devils drop to 5-1 with the loss. Watertown and Waconia are set to square off once more this season in Watertown on the final day of the regular season in a matchup that could be crucial to seeding for the league playoffs and Region 7C Tournament.

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