By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The Elkhorn Area High School girls softball team finished with 23 hits and routed Williams Bay 20-2 in the third-place game of the Walworth County Softball Tournament May 16 at West Park in Darien.
The Elks defeated Big Foot 5-2 in their opening game of the tournament and lost 10-0 to Delavan-Darien in the semifinals.
Elkhorn lost 12-3 to Union Grove May 14 at home in a Southern Lakes Conference game and split a SLC doubleheader May 12 at Burlington.
The Demons won the first game 9-5 and the Elks won the second game 8-4. Elkhorn coach Jacob Schueller said it is the first time Elkhorn has defeated Burlington since each team joined the current configuration of the SLC in 2009.
Elkhorn (11-11, 3-8 SLC) played a SLC doubleheader Tuesday at home against Wilmot, and plays Waterford today at home in a SLC game that is also the team’s regular season finale.
The Elks open WIAA Division 2 regional play on May 26. Columbus, East Troy, Jefferson, Lake Mills, Watertown Luther Prep and Whitewater are in Elkhorn’s regional bracket.
Against Williams Bay, Rachel Gosh pitched four innings for the Elks, and allowed no hits and struck out five. Morgan Rudolf threw an inning and struck out two.
“Rachel is coming into her own as a freshman, pitching and hitting very well as of late,” Schueller said. “We’ve known she has the potential to be a star, and that star is rising right now.”
Gosh finished with four hits and three runs scored against Williams Bay. Elkhorn scored four runs in each of the five innings against the Bulldogs.
Hailey Wang drove in six runs on four hits and scored three runs. Rudolf drove in four runs and finished with three hits. Meghan Etten finished with three hits, and Carolyn Griswold and Payton Barker each tallied two.
