Softball drops five games
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Badger High School baseball team swept two games from Elkhorn last week.
Badger defeated Elkhorn 5-2 at home April 14 thanks to a big four-run third inning. Clint Ugolini’s double brought home two of the runs. Alex Morland brought home another with a sacrifice fly and Colton Tisch had an RBI single.
Elkhorn answered with a single run in the top of the fourth but Badger answered right back with one of their own in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Liam Poetzinger. Elkhorn got one more in the top of the sixth but could do no more damage. Morland got the win allowing one run on four hits over four innings. Levi Burnette got the save with one inning of scoreless relief.
Badger beat Elkhorn again in Elkhorn on April 16, this time 5-0. Alex Johnson got the win holding the Elks (0-6, 0-4 Southern Lakes Conference) to three hits over seven innings with eight strikeouts. Johnson did not walk anyone.
The Badgers pounded out 10 hits with Burnette collecting four of them along with four RBIs. While the Badgers (3-2, 3-0 SLC) never had a big inning, they scored two in the third innings and single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh.
The Badgers play home and away games against Union Grove on Tuesday and Thursday.
Soccer wins one of three
The soccer team defeated Big Foot-Williams Bay at home 3-2 on Saturday. Badger (1-2-1) took a 2-0 lead on goals by Taylor Houghton and Sharmaine Villarello with an assist by Hayley Aranda. Big Foot-Williams Bay (3-2) tied it on two goals by Morgan Grunow, the second assisted by Morgan Courier. Aranda scored the game-winning goal with an assist from Sarah Hamilton.
Badger lost to Racine Horlick (2-2) 5-1 on the road on April 16. Horlick built up a 5-0 lead on two goals by Nicole Shields, two goals by Genevieve Cruz, and a single goal by Aly Andersen. Badger’s lone goal was by Hamilton. Horlick outshot the Badgers 18-11.
Badger lost to Beloit Memorial-Turner (2-1) 2-1 on the road on April 14. Beloit scored first on a goal by Kaeli Stellings. Badger tied it on a goal by Houghton with an assist by Ailsa Freytag. Beloit’s Olivia Valk scored the game-winner with an assist from Esmeralda Natividad. Beloit outshot Badger 9-3.
Softball has tough week
The softball team dropped five games last week. Badger lost to Elkhorn at home 13-3 in five innings on April 13. The Elks (4-3, 1-2 SLC) led 4-1 after one inning, added three more runs over the next two innings and broke it wide open with a six-run fifth inning.
Cayleen Ryan homered for Badger in the first inning. Badger scored twice in the fifth. Emily Krahn singled and Iliana Pflipsen doubled. Both scored on a single by Kaitlyn McManus and a ground out by Jordan Stritesky.
Badger faced No. 4-ranked Westosha Central at home on April 14 and lost 15-0 in five innings. The Badgers could generate no offense and struck out 11 times. The first seven Badgers struck out. Ryan had Badger’s only hit. Central (8-2, 3-0) did the most damage in the fourth, scoring seven times.
Badger lost at home to Waterford (1-3, 1-1) 13-2 on April 16. Badger trailed just 5-2 going into the seventh. Aided by several Badger errors, Waterford scored eight times in the seventh to put it away.
Badger led 2-1 after one inning but could not score again. Shawna Ruck walked and Ryan singled. Both scored on a double by Pflipsen. Ryan had two of Badger’s four hits on the day.
Badger (2-6, 0-3) dropped both games of a double headers at home to Milton (4-3) on Saturday. Badger battled Milton to a 0-0 tie through three innings and led 1-0 after four. Ryan walked and later scored Badger’s only run. Milton responded with three runs in the top of the fifth and added an insurance run in the seventh.
Badger lost the second game 7-4. Milton jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Badger cut the lead to 3-2 with two runs in the fourth. Kiley Johnson and Ryan both singled to lead off the inning and later scored on RBI singles by Tayler Garrels and Amanda Kuehl.
Milton scored once in the fourth and once in the fifth to lead 5-2. Badger scored twice in the sixth Badger after two were out to cut the lead to one. Stritesky walked, and Alyssa McKeon singled. Both scored on a double by Ryan.
Milton answered with two insurance runs in its half of the sixth, and Badger could not score in the seventh.
Ryan led Badger with three hits, including a double. Garrels also had three hits and a walk. Johnson had two hits.
Badger traveled to No. 4-ranked (Division 2) Delavan-Darien on Monday and hosted Burlington on Wednesday. Badger travels to Union Grove on Friday, to Kettle Moraine on Monday and to Wilmot on Tuesday.
The Badger golf team won the Walworth County Invitational on April 13 at Hawk’s View with a score of 322. Delavan-Darien came in second at 374.
Four of the top five individual scores were turned in by Badger golfers. Grant Germano, of Williams Bay, won the individual title with a 77. Badger’s Connor Duggan and Luke Bourneuf tied for second with 79. Jackson Rudemaker and Jonathon Duggan both shot 82 to tie for fourth. David Mikrut rounded out Badger’s scores with a 95 to finish 10th.
