BELOIT—Just three batters into Thursday evening’s game, there were some rumblings in the Beloit Turner dugout about the speed that Brodhead pitcher Ava Risum was throwing from the circle.
And the junior wasn’t done yet.
Risum allowed just one hit and a walk while striking out 10 batters to help lead the Cardinals to a 5-0 shutout against the Trojans in Rock Valley Rock action at a sunny but cool and breezy YMCA Youth Sports Complex.
“Ava is not a thrower, she’s a pitcher,” Brodhead head coach Steve Krupke said. “Of course she throws hard, everyone can see that from the stands, but she hits spots and is putting the ball exactly where I ask it.
“Some kids can throw hard, but if they don’t have a changeup good hitters can time it. Turner’s got good hitters, so we had to go to the changeup a lot tonight. And when she’s got that in her back pocket, it’s not even fair.”
A leadoff single from Sammi Schleis in the fourth, who was quickly back in the dugout after a pair of strikeouts and a fly out, and a one-out walk in the second were the only blemishes on Risum’s resume.
“We’ve always known that Turner is a really good hitting team,” Risum said. “We looked over what I threw last time, and we knew that we had to throw my rise and my change up more. It worked out really well and my teammates backed me up.”
With the junior’s off-speed pitches wreaking havoc, the Cardinals cruised to the win and swept the season series with the Trojans, who went to the WIAA Division 2 State Semifinals last year.
“I was trying to throw my curveball a lot, but the zone was a little bit smaller tonight,” Risum said. “So, I was like, ‘Okay, I just need to get them to chase it.’ That’s how I started going to the rise ball inside, and they really were chasing that. My changeup outside was also really working tonight.”
A three-run fourth inning was more than enough for Brodhead. Jaelyn Hilliard singled and Risum doubled with a deep drive to center field to begin the frame. Leah Rear knocked one run in with her ground out to second before Alecia Dahl hit one back up the middle to make it 2-0.
Tatum Ceslok singled one out later and Keegan Steinke followed it up with an RBI single that fell into left field.
“We just kept saying ‘Just hit the ball hard, it’ll fall for us eventually,’” Risum said. “And then it started to. Once we stopped popping it up in the infield or hitting grounders, we really started to click and started having better plate discipline, not swinging at low pitches that are in the dirt.”
Sophia Leitzen started the fifth by knocking a triple to the center-field fence and Risum scored her with her single to left. Risum also drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth as she finished 3-for-3 from the plate with a run and pair of RBI.
Leitzen and Hilliard added two hits as the 1-2-3 hitters in Brodhead’s order combined to go 7-for-11.
“Obviously the top of our lineup has a little more pop,” Krupke said. “In the first couple innings, we were putting the ball in play and didn’t have any to show for it. Sometimes that can get teams to start pressing a little bit. But these guys just kept at it and we finally broke out.”
Turner fell to 4-4 with the loss and 3-3 in RVC Rock play, but head coach Brian Maxwell was impressed with the performance his group had against a Brodhead squad that is 9-0 (8-0 in conference play) and, not only were state champions last season, but are currently ranked as the No. 1 Division 3 team in the state of Wisconsin by the state softball coaches association.
“A Division I pitcher, I mean she’s really good,” Maxwell said. “She mixed it up nicely. But, I liked the way the girls battled. There were a lot of full counts, and I’ll take that.”
And freshman Lauryn Wells was strong from the pitching circle as she struck out four and walked just one. She frequently worked around traffic on the bases, keeping 11 hits to just four earned runs.
“Lauryn doesn’t walk many and she gets ahead,” Maxwell said. “She’s so calm, and if she’s nervous, you can’t tell. We made a couple of mistakes there in the sixth, caused it to be bases loaded, and she did so well. They got one run out of that, and I’ll take that all day.”
• LINESCORE:
BRODHEAD 5, BELOIT TURNER 0
Brod 000 311 0 — 5 11 1
BT 000 000 0 — 0 1 2
Leading hitters: Brod, Leitzen 2x4, 1 Run; Hilliard 2x4, 1 Run; Risum 2x3, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Rear 1x4, 1 Run; Dahl 1x4, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Ceslok 1x3; Steinke 1x3, 1 Run, 1 RBI. BT, Schlies 1x3. 2B: Risum. 3B: Leitzen.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Brod, Risum 7.0-1-0-0-1-10. BT, Wells 7.0-11-5-4-1-4.
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