SUN PRAIRIE -- Ava Kleinfeldt was at the center of it all for the L-Cats, who authored perhaps the program's single-most impressive victory ever.
The University of St. Thomas recruit homered and tossed a four-hitter with seven strikeouts for Lake Mills' softball team in a 7-3 road victory over perennial power Sun Prairie East on Thursday, April 25.
"I always tell our girls, you don't grow by beating teams weaker than you," Lake Mills softball coach Jim Clift said. "You grow by stretching yourself and taking on a challenge that's hard to reach, as today was. Our belief level was already high. This really demonstrates we're capable of beating anyone in the state of Wisconsin.
"I don't mean that as a boastful standpoint. It's a standpoint of confidence. When you knock off a softball giant as we did, your belief is going to grow. We want to take this tonight and run with it."
The L-Cats (11-1) got their lead off runners aboard in the first and second innings but had nothing to show for it. Savannah Radtke singled and was stranded at third in the first and Payton Quest was cut down trying to score from third on a ground ball in the second.
Those early innings served as tone setters for the fifth when the Division 2 fourth-ranked L-Cats, after allowing a run when Grace Kramschuster tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly in the fourth, did significant two-out damage. Lily Doerr got the wheels turning with a single. Haydenn Sellnow followed with a hard ground ball to left for a double, plating Doerr's courtesy runner Morgan Everson and making it 1-all.
Kleinfeldt dug in next, launching a 2-0 offering from South Dakota State recruit Tayler Baker deep over the fence in center to give the L-Cats a 3-1 lead.
"Sun Prairie's coaches acknowledged that may have been the longest homer they've ever seen hit on that field," Clift said. "There's a tall pine tree behind the left-center field fence. Her ball hit the top of the pine tree. It was just a tower."
After a single, infield error and sacrifice bunt, the D1 second-ranked Cardinals (7-2) had a pair runners in scoring position with two away. Lead off hitter Abby Packard singled to left, scoring one run while another crossed via error on the play to tie it up.
Lake Mills' seventh inning started innocently enough when Emily Wollin drew a walk and advanced to second on Doerr's one-hit hit up the middle. Both runners moved up a base on a passed ball. Sellnow then smoked a grounder back up the gut, scoring both go-ahead runs and taking second on the throw. Kleinfeldt followed with an RBI double to left field and capped the rally by crossing on Quest's two-out single.
"As we've been doing all year, we are essentially swinging at strikes only," Clift said. "Against a top-flight pitcher like Baker, they showed absolutely no fear of her for the entire game and showed aggression hitting.
"Lily nailed a hard single to left-center field and then Haydenn came through with a nice piece of hitting. We kept pressure on Sun Prairie East the entire game. We have a bunch of girls who bounced back really well from a Lodi loss that we felt should have been ours earlier in the week. They put that in the past."
Kleinfeldt got a pair of ground outs to open the seventh but then hit No. 8 hitter Cassie Coffey before Ella Ireland reached on an infield error. Kleinfeldt induced a ground ball off Packard's bat for a fielder's choice to end it.
Kleinfeldt walked none, allowing three runs (one earned) on 99 pitches, 63 for strikes.
"Ava was in absolute command of her pitches," Clift said. "Her velocity was better and her movement was better on all her pitches. She was in a zone and really wanted that big moment against a big team. That showed offensively and defensively. She'll remember that game for the rest of her life. She shut down a perennial state contender and massively helped her own cause at the plate."
The Cardinals have played in past six D1 state tournaments, winning one title and reaching the state final four times. The L-Cats had to keep their wits about them to come out on top.
"What made me the proudest, not just this game but all season, has been all our players' composure," Clift said. "They have not been afraid of the big moment. Most of them really crave that spot. We hit the ball very hard and Ava pitched the best game I've seen her pitch. There was nothing fluky about this win, and it's very gratifying."
Lake Mills has a doubleheader at Oconomowoc on Saturday starting at noon.
LAKE MILLS 7, SUN PRAIRIE EAST 3
Lake Mills 000 030 4 -- 7 10 3
Sun Prairie East 000 120 0 -- 3 4 1
Leading hitters -- LM: Doerr 2x3, Sellnow 2x3 (2B, 3 RBI), Kleinfeldt 2x3 (2B, HR, 3 RBI), Quest 2x4; SPE: Packard 2x4, Kramschuster (3B).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- LM: Kleinfeldt W; 7-4-3-1-0-7; SPE: Baker L; 6.2-10-7-7-3-5, Geise 0.1-0-0-0-0-1.
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