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The Lady Hornets Softball team was able to pick up two wins with the scores 12-11 and 16-10 against the old ECC rival Ripon Lady Tigers on a picturesque April 15 at Bird Creek Park Diamond 2.
Fans knew going into the game that an orange and black team was going to come out victorious in both game yet fortune went to the host Wautoma for both this year in exciting softball action.
If you paid the price of admission (priceless) you definitely got your monies worth of offense. The first game of the twin bill saw the visiting Lady Tigers jump out to a 3-0 lead off of a Carlson double, Bumby walk and Busse RBI single followed up with two runs scoring on shady Hornet defense. Wautoma would answer back with two of their own on an Ava Stahl single and Brianna Buechner two-run inside-the-park homerun to erase the deficit to 3-2.
The Lady Hornets tied it in the second on a Braelynn Pica RBI single scoring Liv Cieslik who reached on an error. Ripon ignited for four runs in the third inning on an E. Baker single, Busse single, H. Baker walk and a repeat of shaky Hornet defense to make it 7-3. Wautoma answered the call again putting up two of their own on a Stahl lead-off single (2 SB’s), Buechner sac fly RBI, Ava Butt single and courtesy runner Eva Thompson scoring on Bryn Gunderson’s taking advantage of Ripon’s gift to make it 7-5 in Lady Tiger favor.
Again, Ripon put up another four spot up in the fourth inning off of five hits to stretch their lead to 11-5. Yet, the Lady Hornets tallied with one on a Kendall Gustke single, Liv Weiss sac bunt and Stahl RBI single for an 11-6 score after four complete. A combination of error free solid Hornet defense and Cieslik dialed in the second go around eliminated any Lady Tiger further damage for the remaining three innings. The Lady Hornets scored two in the fifth on a Pica two-RBI single, two in the sixth on a Stahl single, Buechner single and eventually coming home on a Sydney Dunn dropped third strike to cut the Lady Tiger lead to 11-10 going into the seventh.
Wautoma’s exciting comeback was completed in the seventh as Cieslik led off with a bunt single, Pica one-out single and non-throw stolen base with Cieslik on third, wild pitch Cieslik across, Stahl intentional walk and another wild pitch to advance Pica home to cap the 12-11 ballgame.
Wautoma collected eleven hits to the Lady Tigers nine with Stahl (3x4, 2 SB’s, 2 RBI’s, 3 runs, INT BB), Buechner (2x3, HR, 3 RBI’s, 2 runs and sac), Pica (3x4, 3 RBI’s, SB, run), Butt (1x3, sac), Cieslik (1x3, 3 runs, BB) and Gustke (1x2, BB). Ripon’s Busse led their attack going (3x4, 2B, 2 RBI’s) while E. Baker was (2x4, run).
If the first game wasn’t enough to keep you in your seats, game 2 kept fans on the edge. The now home team on the scoreboard roared to a 4-0 lead after one as the Lady Hornet defense decided to do a little charity work.
However, the Hornet bats buzzed for six runs to gain the lead with the majority of work done with two outs (BASE 2 – players) in the top of second inning. Gunderson one-out single, Cieslik single and then the rest with two outs – Pica RBI double, Weiss reaching on an error, Stahl RBI single, Buechner single (SB) and Dunn getting on off of a Lady Tiger mistake to create a 6-4 game.
Yet, the Lady Tigers retaliated for three runs in the bottom of the second inning to regain the lead 7-6. Crazy, both teams laid a goose egg in the third. Wautoma would once again regain the lead 8-7 in the fourth on a Weiss single (SB), Stahl walk and Buechner sac fly RBI scoring Stahl. The Ripon squad answered with one to knot it up 8-8 after four innings complete.
Wautoma erupted for another six count in the fifth inning with a Cieslik lead-off single (SB), Gustke RBI single, Weiss single, Stahl intentional walk, Buechner fielder’s choice RBI and Butt 2-RBI single to take a commanding 14-8 builder. The see-saw battle continued as Ripon posted two runs in the bottom of five to make it 14-10. That was all the Lady Tigers could muster the remaining two final frames as Cieslik held them to one hit.
Meanwhile, the Lady Hornets added one run in the sixth off of a 3-0 count Stahl smash solo in-the-park home run over the center fielder and another run in the seventh on a Butt one-out walk scoring on a few passed balls to create the 16-10 final score.
Wautoma strung fourteen team hits with Stahl (3x3, HR, 2B, 4 runs, 2 RBI’s, 2 SB’s, BB, INT BB), Cieslik (3x4, 3 SB’s, 2 runs, BB), Weiss (2x4, SB, 3 runs), Buechner (1x4, 2 runs, 2 RBI’s, sac), Dunn (1x4, RBI, SB), Butt (1x3, 2 RBI’s, BB, run), Gunderson (1x3, run), Gustke (1x3, RBI) and Pica (1x4, RBI, run). Cieslik recorded the pitching column wins in each game while Larissa Piechowski filled in some innings.
The Wautoma Lady Hornets improved to 6-4 overall (1-1 in SCC) and will be hosting Mauston Thursday, April 20 at 5 p.m. and traveling to Wild Rose Friday, April 21 with a 4:30 p.m. start.
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