GILMAN SOFTBALL - Pirates move to the Dome, where they drop two to start the season

GILMAN SOFTBALL

Not quite able to get things going yet outside, the Gilman Pirates changed course on Saturday moving from Poynette to Rhinelander’s Hodag Dome to finally get their first softball games of the season in.

The Pirates fell short in their two games of the quickly pieced together 10team event, falling 7-3 to Laona-Wabeno and 11-5 to Flambeau, a team they’d tried to play twice outside in the season’s first two weeks.

“It was an experience,” Gilman head coach Brian Phelps said of the program’s first indoor games in several years. “If you’ve never played there, it’s a big adjustment. Most of the teams there had already played in the dome a couple of weeks before or had a couple of games under their belts.

“We learned a lot, so that was great,” he added. “We asked the girls what their thoughts were and the consensus was that we played OK. It was the first time our girls had played on turf or that kind of surface. We had some girls out, so we were playing some people out of position.”

In game one, Gilman fell behind the Rebels 3-0 in the first two innings but fought back and tied it by the middle of the fifth.

Kenlyn Kroeplin, who had a big day at the plate, led off the top of the fourth with a triple and scored on Abby Chaplinski’s double to get the Pirates on the board. Mylie Stephens led off the fifth with a hit and moved to third on Chloe Irwin’s double. Both scored on Kroeplin’s single.

That’s where the rally ended and Laona-Wabeno regained control with a four-run rally in the bottom of the fifth.

Kroeplin and Kayleigh James both went two for four at the plate for the Pirates. James had a double. Kroeplin also reached on an error. Chaplinski was one for three with a walk and Irwin was one for three.

Danielle Mann got the start in the pitching circle for Gilman and went four innings. She struck out two, walked one and allowed three runs, one of which was earned. Scarlett Stuner got the last two innings and struck out two, walked one and allowed four runs, two of which were earned. Both pitchers only allowed two hits.

“Too many errors and they came at bad times,” Phelps said. “One came with two outs in the fifth and the flood gates kind of opened after that. That’s part of the experience, part of the learning curves, especially with people in some new spots. The girls played well in the first game all things considered.”

Defensive positioning changed even more in game two when Mann came down with a muscle injury in her neck/shoulder area after two innings of pitching. She moved to first base and Phelps said there was a domino effect after that.

Flambeau broke open a 3-1 game with a five-run top of the third and led 10-3 through four to coast to the victory.

Kroeplin was three for four with a dou- ble and a run scored, while Chaplinski was two for four with a double and two runs scored to lead the offense.

Gilman got its first run in the bottom of the first to make it 2-1. Down 8-1 in the third, Chaplinski doubled and scored on a Kroeplin hit. Mann reached on an error which brought the second run.

Kroeplin and Mann knocked in the team’s last two runs in the fifth.

Stuner struck out two, walked three and allowed five hits in four innings. Two of six runs were earned. Mann struck out one, walked three and allowed two hits and five runs, two of which were earned.

Gilman’s field wasn’t quite ready Monday and Tuesday to host scheduled games with Cadott and Thorp. The Thorp game was rescheduled for today, Thursday.

The Pirates will open Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play Friday with a 5 p.m. first pitch at Colby-Abbotsford. They are scheduled to host Spencer Tuesday and Loyal-Greenwood on April 19.