By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Lake Geneva Badger baseball team split two games with Burlington but maintained a half-game lead on Union Grove for the lead in the race to win the Southern Lakes Conference title.
Burlington is 9-6 overall and 7-4 in the Southern Lakes Conference, and Union Grove is 8-2 in the conference. The Badgers are now 11-3 overall and 9-2 in the conference.
The Badgers, who have split two games with the Broncos this season, lost 4-2 to Burlington on May 6. The Demons scored a single run in the first and two in the third to lead 3-0. Badger answered with a single run in the fourth but Burlington got that run right back in the bottom of the fourth. Badger added a single run in the sixth but it wasn’t enough.
The highlight of the Badger offense was a home run by Jonah Zeinert but it came with the bases empty. Derek Denecke went 2-for-2 and scored a run. Travis Stahulak took the loss giving up four earned runs on 10 hits over six innings. He struck out eight.
The Badgers got even on May 7 by beating Burlington 2-1 behind seven strong innings from Colton Andresen who allowed just one run on three hits. The Demons took a 1-0 lead in the second but Badger tied it in the bottom of the third. Badger took the lead in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Zeinert. Peter Krien had two of Badger’s five hits.
Soccer wins two
The Badger soccer team defeated Beloit Memorial (7-8-1) in non-conference action 1-0 on May 6. Hayley Aranda scored the lone goal of the game on an assist by Sharmaine Villarello.
Badger shut out Westosha Central (7-5, 1-2 Southern Lakes Conference) 2-0 on May 7. Aranda and Sarah Hamilton scored Badger’s goals, both unassisted.
Badger (8-6, 3-2 Southern Lakes Conference) lost to Elkhorn (8-3-1, 3-2 Southern Lakes Conference) 2-0 on May 10. Elkhorn outshot the Badgers 11-4. The two Elkhorn goals were by Carmen Diaz and Elise Gorecki.
Softball winless
The Badger softball team fell to 2-13 (1-10 in the Southern Lakes Conference) last week against some very tough competition.
On May 6 Badger lost both games of a double header to undefeated and third-ranked Westosha Central. Badger played well defensively in Game One but fell 7-1. The Falcons scored three in the first, one in the third, two in the fifth, and one in the seventh. Badger scored their run in the seventh. Jamie Mikrut had two of Badger’s three hits.
Game Two was all Westosha Central (14-0, 11-0). The Falcons held the Badgers scoreless and jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings. A five-run fourth inning ended all doubt.
On May 8 Badger dropped two games to No. 16 Union Grove (15-4, 8-3). Badger led the Broncos in Game One 1-0 after one inning. Union Grove tied the score in the second and then took command with a six-run third inning. The Broncos scored four more times to win 11-1.
Union Grove erased all doubt in the first inning of Game Two plating nine. The Broncos scored five more over the next two innings on their way to a 14-3 win.
Badger was leading Wilmot 1-0 after one inning on May 9 before the game was postponed due to rain. The game will be finished as part of a double header on Saturday. The second game will count as a non-conference game as the teams will have already played each other twice. Both teams are short games due to earlier cancellations.
Badger finished the week losing to No. 14 Oconomowoc (10-4) 15-5 on Saturday. Badger scored three runs in the first two innings but then again gave up some big innings. Oconomowoc scored seven in the third and six more in the fourth to lead 13-4. Badger scored a single run in the fifth but Oconomowoc added two more in the sixth. Frankie Bobula led the Badgers going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
