BRODHEAD, Wis. — Junior pitcher Ava Risum breezed through the Columbus batting order Tuesday afternoon, pitching a two-hitter with 15 strikeouts as the Cardinals began defense of their WIAA Division 3 state championship with a 4-1 regional victory.
Risum struck out the side in the first inning and never looked back.
Sophia Leitzen put the Cardinals on top to stay with a leadoff home run to center field in the first inning.
Risum struck out her fourth straight Columbus batter before one reached on an error by the third baseman. Risum shook that off and struck out the next two.
Two more strikeouts followed, giving Risum eight in nine batters. A flyout ended the third.
Columbus had its leadoff batter reach on an error in the fourth, but the next grounded back to Risum who thew to shortstop Leizen at second for a force and she relayed to first for a double play.
The Cardinals’ offense went to work in the bottom of the inning. Jerrica Schwartz singled and Tatum Ceslok successfully sacrifice-bunted. Schwartz moved to third on a passed ball and Tessa Kloepping was hit by a pitch. Leizten’s pop fly to right was dropped, allowing Schwartz to score for a 2-0 game. Columbus worked out of the inning without any more damage.
Brodhead made it 3-0 in the fifth. Leah Rear walked, Allie Dahl sacrificed her over to second and she stole third. Rear scored on a bunt by Ceslok. Rear added a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Columbus scored its lone run on a homer by Mariyah Nachreiner.
• HONONEGAH 15, ROCKFORD EAST 0: After routing the E-Rabs twice in the NIC-10 season, head coach Denny McKinney said he wasn’t going to use his No. 1 pitcher, Aislynn Palmer, in the postseason opener.
Turns out, he didn’t use a lot of starters. He rested seven in all and the Indians still routed the E-Rabs in an IHSA 4A regional game at HCC in Machesney Park hosted by Harlem.
The game ended by the mercy rule after East batted in the top of the fourth.
Addison Hulburt smashed a grand slam home run to lead the Indians’ 11-hit attack.
Sam Nosbisch started and pitched two scoreless innings for the Indians with three strikeouts. Emma Tappia and Tabby McKay each pitched a scoreless inning in relief. The E-Rabs had only two hits.
NIC-10 champion Hononegah (29-3) advances to play the winner between Harlem and Guilford on Friday at HCC.
• MARSHALL 8, BELOIT TURNER 7: In Marshall, the Trojans’ season ended in heartbreaking fashion as the Cardinals’ Lyliane Browne sent a one-out solo homer over the center-field fence in the bottom of the seventh for a walk-off WIAA Division 3 regional opener victory.
Down 7-5 heading into the top of the seventh, Kamryn Clark hit a one-run double to center field with two outs and Autumn Meris followed up with an RBI two-bagger of her own to tie it up.
Maddy Hoenig hit a one-run double in the first before Marshall scored two runs in the bottom half. Kamdyn Davis, Clark and Meris all had run-scoring singles in a four-run third before the third-seeded Cardinals (17-6) surged ahead for the 6-5 lead.
Davis went 3-for-4 with a run scored in her final prep game while Clark and Meris each had two. Browne and Carly Checky each had two hits as the sixth-seeded Trojans (11-8) outhit the Cardinals 11-9 but committed three errors.
Turner used three pitchers with starter Maddyn Saunders allowing six runs (three earned) on six hits with a strikeout. Jayden Pozzani gave up an unearned run on two hits in two innings.
• POYNETTE 2, CLINTON 1: In Poynette, Junior Ashley Theisen threw six stellar innings and went 2-for-3 with a double but it wasn’t enough as the seventh-seeded Cougars fell to the second-seeded Pumas in a WIAA Division 3 Regional opener.
Theisen walked two and allowed five hits but struck out a whopping 14 batters. Both runs against her went unearned as Grace Gavinski brought home a runner, who had advanced to scoring position on an error, on a single in the bottom of the first and a throwing error brought a runner across in the fifth to break a one-all tie.
Allie Bell singled in the first, stole second and moved to third on Theisen’s single before scoring on a double-steal of home to put Clinton (8-12) on the board in the first.
Morgan Gunderson started and allowed an earned run on three hits with six strikeouts for Poynette (16-7). Kassidy McCaffery earned the win as she tossed the final three innings and struck out six while not allowing a baserunner.
LINESCORES:
BRODHEAD 4, COLUMBUS 1
Columbus 000 000 1 — 1 2 1
Brodhead 100 111 x — 4 6 2
Leading hitters: Col, Nachreiner 1x3, 1 run, 1 rbi; Okeefe 1x3. Brod, Leitzen 1x4, 1 run, 1 rbi; Hilliard 1x4, 1 run; Rear 1x3, 1 run, 1 rbi; Schwartz 1x2, 1 run; Ceslok 1x2, 1 rbi; Kloepping 1x2. HR: Leitzen, Nachreiner.
Pitching: Col, Hart (L) 6.0-6-4-4-5-2. Brod, Risum (W) 7.0-2-1-1-1-15.
HONONEGAH 15, ROCKFORD EAST 0
Rock. East 000 0 — 0 2 6
Hononegah 6 4 5 — 15 11 0
Leading hitters: RE, Santana 1x2; Farah 1x1. Hon, Huber 2x2, 3 runs; Tapia 2x3, 3 runs, 1 rbi; Haas 1x1, 2 runs; Hulburt 1x2, 3 runs, 5 rbi; Eich 2x3, 2 runs, 2 rbi; McMaster 1x1, 2 rbi; McKay 1x1, 2 rbi; Midgett 1x2, 2 rbi. HR: Hulburt.
Pitching: RE, Bergstrom (L) 3.0-11-15-9-3-0. Hon, Nosbisch (W) 2.0-0-0-0-2-3; Tapia 1.0-2-0-0-0-1; McKay 1.0-0-0-0-0-3.
MARSHALL 8, BELOIT TURNER 7
BT 104 000 2 — 7 11 3
Mar 213 100 1— 8 9 1
Leading hitters: BT, Davis 3x4, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Clark 2x4, 1 Run, 3 RBI; Meris 2x4, 2 RBI; Hoenig 1x3, 2 Runs, 1 RBI; Schleis 1x3, 1 Run. Mar, Browne 2x4, 2 Runs, 2 RBI; Checky 2x3; Weisensel 1x3, 1 RBI; Stuntebeck 1x4, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Luzenski 1x3, 2 Runs; Dahl 1x3, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Nemek 1x2, 1 Run 1 RBI.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): BT, Saunders 3.0-6-6-3-1-1, Pozzani 2.0-2-1-0-1-0, Wells (L) 1.1-1-1-1-0-1. Mar, Weisensel 4.0-9-7-7-3-6, Brodbeck (W) 3.0-2-0-0-1-2.
POYNETTE 2, CLINTON 1
Clin 100 000 0 — 1 3 3
Poy 100 010 — 2 5 0
Leading hitters: Clin, Theisen 2x3; Bell 1x3, 1 Run. Poy, Mackey 2x3, 1 Run; Gavinski 1x3, 1 RBI.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Clin, Theisen (L) 6.0-5-2-0-2-14. Poy, Gunderson 4.0-3-1-1-2-6, McCaffery (W) 3.0-0-0-0-0-6.
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