GILMAN SOFTBALL - Pirates walk by Owen-Withee; big DH with Columbus on Tuesday

GILMAN SOFTBALL

While Mother Nature continued to prevent the Gilman softball team from getting in its games against higher-quality opponents, the Pirates did take care of business in their lone game of the past week, walking past Owen-Withee 22-0 in three innings.

The Pirates scored 12 runs in the bottom of the first inning and 10 more in the second to easily close out the Blackhawks, who are one of three teams without a win so far in Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play.

Gilman needed just three hits to pile up its runs. Two of them came from freshmen, Olivia Szemraj and Reece Weir. Scarlett Stuner had the third hit. She also was the winning pitcher, striking out five and walking one in her two innings.

Freshman Norah Noonan covered the third inning and got through that fairly quickly with a strikeout and two groundouts with a walk in between.

Gilman’s hitters drew 18 walks and were hit by five pitches.

The win pushes the Pirates to 3-0 in conference play and 5-3 overall. Gilman’s conference game at Loyal-Greenwood Friday was postponed due to wet conditions and Monday’s stormy weather wiped out what would have been a good test at 10-3 Clayton-Turtle Lake.

With a brighter weather forecast kicking in at the end of this week, things should finally pick up for the Pirates, who are at Colby-Abbotsford today, Thursday, and host Spencer Friday.

On Monday, Gilman will try again at Loyal-Greenwood. Then comes the big one on Tuesday, a 4 p.m. home doubleheader with Columbus Catholic, who currently sits atop the conference at 6-0. The Pirates host Loyal-Greenwood May 9 and the Gilman-Thorp Slamfest May 10.