Young Pirates rally for a win; Raiders win two, lose Miller

GILMAN-THORP SLAMFEST

Cloudless skies and temperatures in the 60s produced a perfect Saturday for the Gilman-Thorp Softball Slamfest, where the co-host Gilman Pirates went 1-1 for the day and pulled out an improbable walk-off win and the Medford Raiders extended their win streak at the time to 11.

A total of 19 varsity teams played at least one game in the event, held on six different fields at the two hosts’ facilities. A fourth field in Thorp held some JV games as well.

For co-host Gilman, one of the youngest teams the program has ever had, a 7-6 win over Cornell-Lake Holcombe was an exciting one. Freshman pitcher Eva Kopacz got her first varsity start in the circle and a win, made possible by a five-run rally in the bottom of the sixth, which was the last inning due to the game reaching its time limit.

For five innings, Gilman’s offense was kept off-balance by the low-velocity pitching of Cornell-Lake Holcombe’s Brooke Anderson. Kenlyn Kroeplin walked and worked her way around to score in the second, while Ava Warner singled and scored on Tatum Weir’s base hit in the third. That was it for the Pirates in those five innings.

The Knights, meanwhile got two runs in the first, one in the third and then got three in the top of the sixth to go up 6-2 and seemingly put the game away. With the bottom of the order due up, Gilman head coach Brian Phelps said the decision was made to try to put pressure on the defense with bunts, and it worked.

“We haven’t been the strongest bunting team,” Phelps said. “We’re still working on bat angles. We’re a young team, still learning. But it’s coming. We’re getting better.”

Kroeplin got the ball rolling with a bunt base hit to the right side, Allison Krizan and Eva Kopacz did the same to load the bases. Kayleigh James pushed a bunt that went for another hit to drive in a run. Leadoff hitter Tychelle Duellman slapped a single over the infield to plate the second run of the inning and keep the bases loaded.

Gilman did not get a run on a hard shot to center by Ava Warner that was caught, but Cornell-Lake Holcombe was not able to catch a ball that Bryn Hendricks crushed to the fence for a basesclearing double that won it.

Kopacz struck out eight batters, walked one and allowed eight hits. She did hit five batters, including three in the first inning. But she settled down fairly well after that to get through all six.

Duellman, Kopacz and James all went two for three at the plate. Hendricks had been hitless in three at-bats before coming up with the big hit in the sixth.

After about a four-hour break, a slow start cost the Pirates in a 10-3 loss to Stratford.

The Tigers jumped ahead 3-0 in the top of the first and Gilman let a bases-loaded opportunity get away in the bottom half with a strikeout and a base-running miscue ending the threat. The Pirates stranded two runners in scoring position in the third and left them loaded in the fourth. Down 7-0 in the fifth, they finally got to Stratford pitcher Laney Pankratz and pushed three runs across.

Duellman and Warner started the rally with base hits and Hendricks followed with a run-scoring single. Tatum Weir drove in a run with a groundout and a third run scored on an error on a ball hit by Abby Chaplinski.

Gilman again left the bases loaded in the sixth and then Stratford’s Emma Roeper put the game away in the seventh, getting a high fly ball up in the wind that bounced off the top of the leftfield fence and over for a three-run homer.

“We have been leaving runners on base like crazy this year,” Phelps said. “I think it hurt us to play at 10 a.m. and then not again until 4 and then have to adjust to faster pitching. I really thought by the fourth inning we were timing her up a lot better.”

Warner and Hendricks both went three for four at the plate for Gilman, who stood at 5-7 overall at day’s end. Weir took the loss, striking out five, walking two and allowing eight hits in seven innings of work.

“We’re making progress,” Phelps said. “We just have to keep working on cutting down on the mistakes and staying positive.”

Medford wins two

The Medford Raiders played two games in Thorp and did not allow a run in 4-0 and 12-0 wins over Stevens Point Pacelli and Edgar.

Martha Miller came one hitter away from a perfect game against Pacelli. The only Cardinal to reach in that game was Kaylin Yenter, who beat out an infield single and moved to second on a throwing error with one out in the top of the second. That’s as far as Yenter went as Miller struck out the next two hitters. Miller finished with 11 strikeouts and the Raiders’ infield was rock solid after that, including freshman catcher Brynn Thorson, who was called into duty due to an injury early in the week to Eryka Seidl and the one-day absence of Milou Van den Boogard.

“We made some great plays in that Pacelli game,” Medford head coach Virgil Berndt said. “Our infield was tough.”

The Raiders scored right away in the first with Miller’s bunt single, Allie Paulson’s sacrifice bunt that led to a throwing error, putting runners on the corners, and an RBI groundout by Laurissa Klapatauskas. From there, they added single runs in three of the next five innings to widen the lead.

Emma Brost doubled to deep right and wound up scoring on Paulson’s groundout in the third. Miller spanked a triple to the gap in right-center with one out in the fifth and scored on Paulson’s base hit. Makala Ulrich hit Medford’s second triple of the game in the sixth and scored on Jada Surek’s sacrifice fly.

Miller went two for two with a sacrifi ce. Four other Raiders had a hit apiece.

Hannah Trzinski took the loss for Pacelli. She struck out four in five innings, walked three and allowed four hits and three runs. She pitched out of a second- and-third, one-out jam in the fourth. The Raiders had no trouble with Edgar in game two as Klapatauskas struck out 10 Wildcats, walked three and allowed just three hits in the five-inning contest. Medford did most of its damage in a four-run top of the first and a big sixrun top of the fourth.

The first inning included an RBI single from Klapatauskas, a bases-loaded walk by Hope Faude and Morgan Huegli’s tworun single that just snuck through the right side of Edgar’s infield. The Raiders made it 6-0 in the third and then broke it wide open in the fourth. It started with a bloop double behind first base by Paulson and an RBI double by Klapatauskas off Edgar starter Makayla Wirkus. Rynn Ruesch’s base hit drove in courtesy runner Chloe Werner. Ruesch eventually scored on a wild pitch. With two down, Katie Brehm doubled and scored on a Huegli single. Madisyn Pilgrim greeted reliever Jessica Mucha with an RBI infi eld single, Katie Lybert dumped an RBI single to center and Paulson’s single scored Pilgrim, though Lybert was thrown out at the plate to finally end the inning.

Paulson was three for four to lead Medford’s 16-hit attack, while Klapatauskas was two for four with two runs scored and two driven in. Her strong pitching was a good sign for the Raiders, who lost Miller to a hamstring injury suffered in the second inning as she beat out a bunt single.

“(Today) was good for us,” Berndt said, obviously noting the injury was the one negative for the day. “We did a lot of good things.”

Gilman catcher Kenlyn Kroeplin squeezes a strike thrown by Tatum Weir during the third inning of the Pirates’ 10-3 loss to Stratford in the final round of play Saturday in the Gilman-Thorp Softball Slamfest.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS