Baseball picks up win, soccer drops game
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
A lopsided loss last week to state-ranked McFarland left a bit of a bad taste in the mouths of the East Troy High School softball team.
It’s safe to say the Trojans washed that taste away Monday.
East Troy turned a 7-1 lead into a 14-1 blowout with seven runs in the sixth inning en route to a 14-1 nonconference win over host Badger to improve to 7-4 overall.
With six days to stew about a 17-0 loss to McFarland, the Trojans had plenty of motivation against Badger, East Troy coach Greg Prince said.
“I was happy with the way we played,” he said. “This was our first game since the McFarland game last Tuesday, (and it was) a real solid effort all the way around.”
While the game appeared to be in hand before the sixth inning, the Trojans put things away in that frame, as they sent 12 batters to the plate.
Back-to-back singles by Hunter Scheel and Sophia Heimos led to two of the runs, while a Badger error chased a third one home to highlight the inning.
Maria Longstreet led the offense with three hits, including a double, followed by Scheel with two and a double. Vanessa Dingman added a double for the Trojans.
“It was a pretty good effort on our hitters’ part,” Prince said. “I would have liked to have seen fewer strikeouts, but 10 hits is alright.”
Heimos earned the complete-game win, as she allowed one run, two hits, four walks and struck out five.
Badger scored its only run in the bottom of the first, but from that point, Heimos was in control, Prince said.
“She struggled a little in the first inning, but this was the first she had pitched since last Monday,” he said. “All-around (it was a) good effort.”
The lopsided loss to McFarland, ranked eighth in Division 2, didn’t provide too many highlights for the Trojans, who managed just two hits, one each by Longstreet and Erin Rice.
Chloe Jakscht took the loss, as she allowed 11 hits, 12 earned runs, 12 walks and struck out three. Maria Kulick pitched one inning, and allowed two hits and struck out one.
The loss dropped the Trojans to 6-3 in conference play.
“Six errors really killed us,” Prince said. “We had a chance to make some plays to get out of innings and just didn’t execute. That led to Chloe having to throw a lot of pitches she didn’t need to.
“As this is only the second game she has pitched in this year, it really took its toll and played a role in how many walks she had.”
The Trojans opened the week with a 13-6 RVC win over Brodhead. East Troy led 5-0 after two innings and never looked back.
Kaitlyn O’Connell had four hits and five runs scored, while Dingman and Jakscht each collected three hits and a triple. Rice chipped in with two hits.
Heimos allowed four earned runs, three walks, 10 hits and struck out six to pick up the complete-game win.
East Troy was back in action Tuesday afternoon against Evansville and hosts Jefferson next Tuesday, May 10.
Baseball earns home win
A five-run sixth inning was just enough to give the East Troy baseball team an 11-10 win April 26 over visiting McFarland.
Nick Bertschinger led the way with three hits, including a double and a triple, three runs scored and two RBI. Nick Ruffalo added that three hits and three RBI, while Jon Ciriacks had three this, two runs scored and two RBI.
East Troy traveled to Evansville Tuesday and hosts Evansville Thursday in a pair of RVC matchups.
Soccer falls twice
The East Troy girls soccer team dropped a 3-1 nonconference decision April 26 to Westosha Central, followed by a 7-0 RVC loss April 28 to Whitewater.
Brianna Probst scored the Trojans’ only goal against Central. Jessica Gulig had three saves for East Troy, 1-7 overall and 1-2 in the RVC.
The Trojans traveled to Edgerton Tuesday and host Evansville on Thursday.
