Girls host Whitewater in regional opener tonight
By Dan Truttschel
Sports Correspondent
The East Troy High School softball team posted a 1-2 record at last week’s inaugural Walworth County Tournament at Darien’s West Park.
East Troy defeated Badger 10-6 Friday night, followed by losses of 10-5 to Elkhorn and Big Foot 13-4 to close out the two-day event.
Delavan won the tournament title with a 4-0 victory over Elkhorn.
Box scores and statistics from the tournament were unavailable.
There have been parts of the Trojans’ game that has been pretty solid recently, coach Greg Prince said, but he also knows there’s more work to do as the post-season quickly approaches.
“We will go as far as our defense takes us,” he said. “We have been hitting the ball pretty well and pitching has been decent, but our defense has been somewhat inconsistent.
“To get to the second game of the tourney, we are going to need to clean up our play a little and continue to swing the bats well.”
Prior to last weekend, the Trojans put together a pair of Rock Valley Conference wins, as they defeated Clinton 18-9 May 13 and Parkview 10-6 May 15.
Both Clinton and East Troy scored early and often, as the teams combined for 19 runs the first three innings.
East Troy led 11-8 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning when it put the game out of reach with five runs. The Trojans added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to close out the scoring.
A slew of girls led the Trojans’ offensive attack, as seven players had two hits.
Among the leaders were Paige Kloth with two hits, three runs scored and four RBI; Hunter Scheel with two hits and a run scored; Kaitlyn O’Connell with two hits and two runs scored; Miranda Dallas with two hits and four runs scored; Vanessa Dingman with two hits and two runs scored; Brittany Jakscht with two hits, a run scored and four RBI; and Anna Foley with two hits, three runs scored and three RBI.
Dallas pitched all seven innings, and allowed six walks and struck out six.
East Troy held a slim 3-2 lead over Parkview through three innings before it scored seven runs between the fourth and sixth innings to pull away in the 10-6 win.
Scheel had three hits, two runs scored and three RBI, followed by Dingman with three hits and two runs scored. Kloth added two hits, a run scored and an RBI, followed by O’Connell with two hits, two runs scored and three RBI and Jacobs with two hits, a run scored and an RBI.
Dallas pitched all seven innings, and allowed three walks and struck out three.
Next up for the Trojans is the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 tournament, which begins Thursday afternoon when they host Whitewater in a regional opener. East Troy earned the No. 3 seed, while the Whippets are seeded sixth.
The winner Thursday faces either second-seeded Delavan-Darien or seventh-seeded Clinton in a regional semifinal next Tuesday, May 27.
