Baseball wins one, loses one heading into regional
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Lake Geneva Badger softball team concluded its season with a 14-2 loss to No. 3 seed Janesville Craig in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association regional semi-final May 26 in Janesville. The game took two days to complete because of rain May 25.
Badger, seeded No. 14, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on May 25. Cayleen Ryan blasted a double off of the top of the left-centerfield fence to lead off the game. The next two Badgers failed to bring her home, but Alyssa McKeon came through with a double of her own to give the Badgers the early lead. Badger put another runner on base behind McKeon but then the rain caused the game to be suspended.
When play resumed May 26, Suzie Condos reached on an error that allowed McKeon to score, but that was all the damage Badger could do that inning and that was the last offense Badger would manage all day as Craig’s Jenna Brandt shut them down on just one more hit the rest of the way. Craig answered Badger’s two-run first with two of its own and just kept adding on.
Sydney Cramer drew a walk and stole second to open Craig’s first inning. After recording one out, Badger’s defense helped Craig with two misplays. An error on a ground ball to third and a misplayed fly ball to deep right field allowed one run to score. A sacrifice fly by Kennedy Cox tied the game.
Kaitlin McManus got the last Badger hit with one out in the second but was later picked off first base to end the inning on a perfect throw down by Cox, Craig’s catcher.
Craig then took control with six runs in the second inning. Megan Monroe led off with a single and stole second. Gabby Loveland bunted and was safe at first on an error that moved Monroe to third. Monroe scored on a sacrifice fly by Laura Heilman. Craig also got a triple by Kayla Kaufman that brought two Cougars home and an RBI double by Brandt. The Cougars also scored on another Badger error.
Leslie Zelinski reached on a Craig error to open the third inning and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kiley Johnson, but she was stranded there. Craig then expanded its lead with two runs in the bottom of the third, both scoring on an RBI single by Brandt.
Badger went down 1-2-3 in the fourth. Craig loaded the bases but failed to score for the first time in the game in the bottom of the fourth.
After holding Badger scoreless again in the fifth, the Cougars put the game away in their half of the inning. Kaufman reached on an infield single, Brandt doubled to centerfield moving Kaufman to third, and Cox brought Kaufman home with an RBI single, leaving the Cougars just one run shy of ending the game based on the 10-run rule. Morgan Oren erased any doubt that the Cougars would get that run by blasting a three-run walk-off homerun.
Craig (19-4), champions of the Big Eight Conference, learned how talented the Southern Lakes Conference is the next day losing to Wilmot (16-10), a team that tied for fourth in the SLC, 16-1 in the regional final. The Panthers outhit Craig 20-3.
Baseball splits final two
The Badger baseball team split two non-conference games in preparation for beginning WIAA regional play that began Tuesday as the Badgers traveled to No. 7 seed Racine Horlick. Badger entered the semi-final as the No. 10 seed.
Badger beat Clinton 5-4 on May 24 at home. The game was scoreless until Badger plated two runs in the fourth inning on a single by Isaac Ziervogel. Clinton got one run back in the fifth but Badger got that back with a single run in the sixth.
That set up a wild seventh inning. Clinton, after trailing all day, took the lead with three runs in the top of the final inning. Badger then scored two in the bottom of the inning to pull out the win. Tanner Hagen scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by John Marak.
Ziervogel had two hits and two RBIs and pitched well on the day, allowing only one hit and no runs in four innings of work. Mason DuMez also had two hits and an RBI. Brady Fields contributed two hits as well.
Badger (5-20, 3-12 SLC) lost at home to Jefferson (19-6) 8-0 on May 25 in a game that had been rescheduled because of rain. The first two innings were scoreless. Jefferson broke through with two runs in the third inning and took control with four in the fifth. Single runs in the sixth and seventh capped the scoring. Badger managed just three hits by DuMez, Fields and Eddie Dunn.
Soccer wins bracket
The Badger soccer team was forced to play in the lower bracket of the SLC tournament last week but made the most of it by winning the bracket.
Badger (9-10-2, 3-5-1 SLC) defeated Wilmot (3-9-2, 1-6-1) 1-0 at home on May 24. Nichole Ritzman scored the only goal of the game on an assist by Erin Utesch. Badger outshot the Panthers 13-0.
Badger beat Delavan-Darien (6-13-3, 2-7) 2-0 on May 26 at home. Ailsa Freytag scored on an assist by Utesch, and Brittany Gestrich scored unassisted. The two wins placed Badger fifth in the SLC.
Badger begins WIAA regional play Thursday as the No. 5 seed at No. 4 Madison Memorial (4-12-2).