The Wautoma Lady Hornet softball team began their post season with a 10-2 victory on May 24 at Bird Creek versus SCC conference foe Adam-Friendship Green Devils.
Wautoma scored first in the bottom of the first inning as Bailey Blader-Lucht hit a one-out single, Bri Handel single and Jalyn Piechowski RBI sac bunt making it 1-0. Wautoma added to their lead in the 3rd inning scoring the “Big 3 Plus” as Ava Stahl led off with a one-out hit. Bri Handel roped a two-out RBI double, J. Piechowski walked, Dunn hit a two RBI gap shot and Ava Butt added a hard RBI single extending the lead to 5-1.
The Lady Green Devils fought right back with a couple unearned runs in the fourth inning do to a few defensive blunders and a coach pitch call mistake to cut the deficit 5-2. Wautoma answered right back having another “Big 3” inning with Bryn Gunderson leading off with a double, Stahl one-out single for runners on first and third, Blader-Lucht sac bunt RBI and Handel again smashing a two RBI double for a 8-2 stretch. The Lady Hornets bats buzzed again in the fifth with CR/pinch-hitter Olivia Cieslik lead-off infield single, Gunderson walk, Brianna Buechner RBI sac fly to left field and repetitive Stahl RBI single to finalize the end result 10-2.
Handel controlled the rubber pitching a complete game fanning ten Green Devils, three hits, a walk and no earned runs. Handel also delivered on offense going (3x4, 3 RBI’s, 2 2B’s, 2 SB’s, run) along with Stahl (3x4, RBI, SB, run) and Dunn (2x4, 2B, 2 RBI’s, run) while Blader-Lucht, Butt, Gunderson, Cieslik (1x1, 4 SB’s, run) and Perkin’s collecting one each to sum the grand total of fourteen.
“I loved the energy we had from start to finish along with 75% quality at bats. Bri owned it on the mound with Brianna Buechner, Ava Stahl and Liv Weiss making tremendous plays in the field,” said Head Coach Tom Butt. He also reiterated how blessed he is to have great players not only in the game but academically focused with amazing character qualities.
Plus, how fortunate Coach Butt is to have A plus coaches in Jackie Gunderson, Jeff Stahl and Paige Allen.
The Wautoma Lady Hornet softball team improved to 23-4 on the season with a game against Southern Door on May 27 for Regional Finals.
