POYNETTE -- Sophomore catcher Lily Doerr, with one swing of the bat, spearheaded the L-Cats' quest to become conference champions.
Doerr launched a solo home run to right-center field to lead off the eighth inning as Lake Mills' softball team outlasted host Poynette 1-0 on Wednesday to clinch the program's second Capitol North Conference championship.
"The girls were really excited," said Lake Mills softball coach Jim Clift, who also guided the program to a league crown in 2021. "We all know that this one goal, albeit a big goal, of an outright conference title accomplished is among a series of goals yet to come.
"On the field today, I saw a team working together. Senior Ava Kleinfeldt gets a ton of the press, and deservedly so, but sophomore Mads Sherry made a key catch, as did junior Haydenn Sellnow. We had a bunch of girls executing their jobs today."
The Division 2 seventh-ranked L-Cats (17-2, 6-1 in conference), after one-out singles by Doerr and Sellnow in the first, had a two-on situation with one down but left the runners stranded.
Neither side threatened again until the sixth, when Doerr, who was 3-for-4, doubled to right with one away. Sellnow followed with a double, but sophomore Morgan Everson, Doerr's courtesy runner who possesses solid wheels, was held up at third on what likely would not have been a close play at the plate, according to Clift. After Kleinfeldt was intentionally walked, Kassidy McCaffery recorded back to back strikeouts to end the frame.
In the eighth, Doerr had her big moment, connecting on a 1-2 McCaffery offering.
"Lily thrives off hard ballers and is a very good hitter against power, fastball type pitchers, which is exactly what McCaffery is," Clift said. "Lily had been tagging the ball all night, so I had a good feeling about that at bat. McCaffery threw a fastball to Lily and she basically sent it back where it came from."
D3 eighth-ranked Poynette (12-5, 4-3) was unable to solve the riddle that is Kleinfeldt all game. Lake Mills' right-hander did give up a lead off single in the eighth to Ayla Johnson, who took second on a passed ball and third on a ground out for the inning's first out. Kleinfeldt retired Poynette's top two hitters Addison MacKey (on a pop out) and Emma Gavinski (on a grounder) to slam the door.
Kleinfeldt pitched a three-hit shutout with nine strikeouts, one walk. She threw 101 pitches, 73 for strikes.
"Ava is seemingly getting stronger as the season goes on," Clift said. "Poynette really did not have an answer for her. Ava's drop ball was on, she was hitting her spots and was in very good command of her pitches.
"Ava pitched with a tremendous amount of confidence and we never felt Poynette was going to hit her hard, which is saying a lot with a program of that caliber."
LAKE MILLS 1, POYNETTE 0 (8)
Lake Mills 000 000 01 -- 1 7 2
Poynette 000 000 00 -- 0 3 1
Leading hitters -- LM: Doerr 3x4 (2B, HR), Sellnow 2x4 (2B).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) -- LM: Kleinfeldt W; 8-3-0-0-1-9; P: Gunderson 5.1-5-0-0-0-3, McCaffery L; 2.2-2-1-1-1-3.
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