The Marshall softball team continues to impress. Under the guidance of first-year head coach Kevin Knudson, the Cardinals have maintained their momentum from last season. This is best represented by their No. 9 ranking in Division 3 of the most recent Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association (WFSCA) coaches poll.
Marshall had an opportunity to prove itself worthy of this praise by competing in a triangular tournament at Chilton High School on Saturday, May 4. Campbellsport was in attendance as well as the host Tigers of Chilton. Marshall beat them both. The Cardinals opened with a tight 5-3 victory over Campbellsport then impressed with a 12-5 win over Chilton to finish the day as undefeated champions.
The Campbellsport win took a comeback. Senior Emily Brodbeck got the start in the pitching circle, and the Cougars earned three runs off of her in the first two innings thanks to seven hits.
As a response, Marshall put ace sophomore Kennedy Weisensel in for the bottom of the third inning. She was lights out. Campbellsport only managed one hit against her in the remaining five innings. She struck out nine Cougars as she silenced the side.
With Weisensel cooking, the offense started digging into the deficit in the top of the third inning. Senior Naomi Dahl put herself in position to score with a leadoff single. Weisensel helped herself out with a booming double to left field, bringing Dahl home for Marshall’s first run of the game. Junior Makayla Nemec kept the scoring trend going with a single over the head of the shortstop, allowing Weisensel time to score to narrow the deficit to 3-2.
After a few more innings of silence, the Cardinals would take their first lead in the top of the sixth inning. Senior Mollie Fritter and junior Lyliane Browne helped the cause by leading off with back-to-back drawn walks. Checky stepped back up and punched a single into left field, scoring Fritter to tie the game at three. With two outs on the board, Weisensel came up clutch again with another single into left. Browne raced home from third base to give her Cardinals a 4-3 advantage.
Marshall wasn’t done. Junior Sydney Stuntebeck ensured her Cardinals would have a little more breathing room as she led off the top of the seventh inning with a triple. Senior Kate Luzenski followed up with a sacrifice fly to single to bring her home and make it a 5-3 game. Weisensel went three up, three down in the bottom of the seventh to secure the victory.
This bought the Cardinals a shot at Chilton, which entered the day one spot behind them in the Division 4 ranking at No. 10. Marshall proved that the two weren’t quite that close with a seven-run victory.
The start of this one directly mirrored the start of the Campbellsport game. Brodbeck got the start and Chilton’s bats started hot. The Tigers collected six hits and scored five runs before Brodbeck even recorded an out. Enter, Weisensel. She proceeded to have another wonderful game, going seven innings with only three hits allowed and an incredible 16 strikeouts. The Tigers never scored on her as the offense started chipping away.
The comeback kicked off in the bottom of the first inning. Weisensel led off by drawing a walk and was bunted all the way to third base by Nemec. Stuntebeck stepped up and launched a sacrifice fly into left field. The Cardinals settled for just one run here but really picked up some steam in the bottom of the second inning.
There, much like the game prior, Fritter and Browne got things started with back-to-back drawn walks. Dahl then grounded into a fielder’s choice at second base. Fritter scored, but Browne was thrown out at second as Dahl reached first safely. With two outs on the board, Brodbeck extended the rally with a single to center field which pushed Dahl to third base. They both came home to score as Weisensel clutched up a single into left field. When the dust had settled, Marshall only trailed 5-4.
The deficit disappeared entirely in the bottom of the third inning as Marshall erupted for eight runs. In total, the Cardinals collected five singles, drew two walks, and used an error and fielder’s choice from Chilton to push the runs across. Stuntebeck and Luzenski bookended the dominant inning, leading off by both drawing walks and closing it by hitting back-to-back RBI singles.
Marshall would not score again, but it didn’t need to. A 12-5 lead was more than enough for Weisensel, who only allowed two hits over the final four innings to ice the win.
The pair of victories, coupled with a 15-0 road shellacking of Cambridge on Friday, May 3, bumps Marshall up to a 12-4 record on the year. This includes a 6-1 mark in conference play, tied with Waterloo for first in the Capitol — South.
The Cardinals will try to keep this recent hot streak rolling with a home matchup against Belleville on Tuesday, May 7. The last time these two met, Marshall won 16-1 in five innings. To close the week, Marshall will head to Assumption High School on Saturday, May 11 for another tournament.
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Capitol — South conference softball standings
(overall records in parenthesis)
-as of Monday, May 6
T1. Marshall, 6-1 (12-4)
T1. Waterloo, 6-1 (11-7)
3. Cambridge, 2-3 (4-6)
4. Wisconsin Heights, 1-4 (2-13)
5. Belleville, 0-6 (1-11)
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