Lady Hornets win season opener against Wild Rose

  • Wild Rose’s Riley Quick steps up to bat during the March 21 softball season opener against Wautoma.
    Wild Rose’s Riley Quick steps up to bat during the March 21 softball season opener against Wautoma.
  • Senior Lady Hornet Brianna Buechner slides into home to get Wautoma a 1-point lead.
    Senior Lady Hornet Brianna Buechner slides into home to get Wautoma a 1-point lead.
  • Wautoma’s Liv Weiss slides back into first base safely while Wild Rose’s Addison Smykal attempts to tap her out.
    Wautoma’s Liv Weiss slides back into first base safely while Wild Rose’s Addison Smykal attempts to tap her out.
The Wautoma Hornet softball team was able to beat the visiting Wild Rose Wildcats on March 21 17-7 in six innings on both teams’ opening game at Bird Creek Park. Cali Havlovitz was able to get the Ladycats on the board first with a lead-off single and eventually scoring on a passed ball making it 1-0. However, the Lady Hornet squad answered back while erupting for eight runs managing four free passes and three hits sprinkled in. The Lady Hornets scored four of the runs after two-outs with Liv Cieslik put the finishing touches with a 2-RBI double for a 8-1 lead. Wild Rose struck back in the third inning with two runs as Havlovitz started the inning off with a double, Allison Henschel reaching on an error and both eventually scoring on a Wautoma defensive throwing error with two outs to cut the deficit to 8-3. Wild Rose would shrink the gap to 8-6 in the fourth inning on a Keyva Kingston hit, Davianna Lund walk and Havlovitz RBI single. Wautoma responded with three of their own making it 11-6 on hits by Cieslik and RBI single by Larissa Piechowski along with small ball playing a role. The Lady Hornets widened the lead to 15-6 in the fifth inning on an Alexis Swanke walk, Cieslik single, Gustke reaching on an error, Bella Smith sacrifice bunt, Piechowski walk, Eva Thompson RBI fielder’s choice and Lindsey Anderson RBI single. Wild Rose would add one more run in the 6th inning with Havlovitz earning a free pass and eventually scoring. The Lady Hornets finalized things with a Madelyn Reetz walk, Brianna Buechner bunt single then error scoring Reetz and Swanke hitting a sacrifice RBI fly ball to create a 17-7 game. Wautoma’s pitcher Cieslik recorded the win going the distance while striking out seven with four walks and five Wild Rose hits. The Lady Hornets were able to get nine hits while the Wildcats had five with the leading hitters being Wild Rose’s sparkplug Havlovitz (3x3, 3B, RBI, 4 runs and BB) and Wautoma’s Cieslik going (3x4, 2B, 3 RBI’s, 2 runs and SB). “It is always nice when you can get out in March and get games in before conference play,” Coach Butt mentioned. This game allowed us both to get live game situational opportunities, he added. Wautoma’s overall record is 1-0 with Wild Rose being 0-1.