McDonell takes advantage of young mistakes, ends Gilman’s spring

WIAA DIV. 5 SOFTBALL

The Gilman Pirates certainly learned a lot on the softball field this spring and the sophomore and freshman-dominated squad has a lot to look forward to in the future.

Unfortunately, their recent trend of not being able to get away with any mistakes continued in the final week of the 2022 season, which ended Tuesday in an 11-1, five-inning loss at McDonell Central in a WIAA Division 5 regional semifinal.

The Macks led 3-0 through two innings, but broke the game wide open with a six-run third that made it 9-1. The sixth-seeded Pirates couldn’t recover and finished the season at 7-12, including losing their last five games.

“Defensively, again, it’s those timely errors,” Gilman head coach Brian Phelps said. “Not that there’s a good time for an error. It’s those routine plays that we bobble. Good teams, experienced teams are going to take advantage of that.”

The sixth-seeded Pirates had a chance to build some momentum, getting doubles from Bryn Hendricks and then Ava Warner in the top of the third to close the early deficit to 3-1.

“We started putting the bat on the ball pretty good in the third inning,” Phelps said.

But McDonell hit the Pirates with that big inning to quickly quell that momentum.

Pitcher Tatum Weir struck out three, walked three, hit a batter and gave up nine hits in four innings. The hits were mixed in with enough errors that Phelps considered all 11 runs against his pitcher unearned.

“With Tatum throwing well, Kenlyn Kroeplin did a really nice job behind the plate,” Phelps said. “The two of them were nice battery mates. That was fun to see.”

Katie Ruf got the win for McDonell, striking out 10 Pirates and walking four.

Becca Baier was two for two with a triple and two RBIs for the Macks. Josie Witkowski was two for three with a double and four RBIs.

McDonell Central improved to 12-9 and advanced to a regional final today, Thursday, against second-seeded Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran (17-3), who beat seventh-seeded Prairie Farm 3-1. The other side of the sectional has fourth-seeded Thorp (9-11) visiting topseeded Athens (14-5) tonight.

Gilman will go to work this summer looking to keep improving and preparing for some additions that should add some depth in 2023.

“I’m excited about next year because we are really close,” Phelps said. “We’ll have a couple different pitchers we can utilize, we’re going to be a year older. We’re going to understand the game and everything better. We’re so close in so many of these games. It’s just making a play or two and you’re right there with them.

“I’m still really proud of the kids,” Phelps said. “They battled. Our saying for the year was one pitch at a time, one pitch until the final pitch. That’s what they did. They battled all the way through. For a young team, they battled they won seven games. We went on a little skid here at the end. But they played hard and grew up so much. They learned so much. They really set the table for a successful future.”

Flambeau 9, Gilman 5

The Pirates finished the regular season Monday with a 9-5 non-conference loss to Flambeau, who avenged a 14-12 loss it suffered to Gilman back on April 22.

Phelps said the Pirates came out flat off the weekend, as the game was postponed four days due to stormy weather on Thursday. The Pirates fell behind 9-1 before making a late run with two runs in the fifth and in the sixth.

Weir pitched the first two innings, striking out one, walking one and allowing five hits and five runs. Eva Kopacz covered the last five innings. Three of those innings were scoreless. The Falcons got two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. Kopacz struck out three and walked one and allowed four hits.

“Eva threw really well,” Phelps said. “But again, we gave up a couple of hits, then had a couple of errors and before we knew it we had dug ourselves a hole.”

Hendricks was two for four with a double in the loss, Abby Chaplinski was two for three and Weir had a couple of hits as well.

“Coming up with that key hit, figuring out how to get the bunts down, get on base and move runners. Those are all things we’re still learning,” Phelps said of the team’s offense.