The Bluejay softball team took care of business in last Tuesday’s regional opener with West at Ott’s Park, but D.C. Everest returned the favor in Thursday’s 6-0 finale.
The Jays closed out an 8-9 season. They had tied for 3rd in the WVC at 6-6. Everest was 2nd at 10-2, and West was 4-8.
Merrill pulled out a 3-2 victory over West, using extra-base hits to take a 2-0 lead, then pushing it to 3-0 in the 5th with a manufactured run.
“It was a hectic afternoon for the Jays, but when we finally got out to Ott’s Park we were able to play a solid game,” MHS coach Matt Ellenbecker said. “Offensively we hit the ball alright, but we left a lot of runners on base. We left a runner in scoring position in every inning but the fourth.
“Timely hits have been an issue all year, but our offense came through for us just enough tonight. Lindsay Krueger has been a huge part of our offense all year, and she drove in all three of our runs in this one with a pair of triples and a fielder’s choice RBI in the fifth.”
Reegan Byer led off the game with a double and Krueger ripped a two-out triple to score her before stranding. Brianna LaMonica tripled with one out in the 3rd, and Krueger immediately plated her with her own three-bagger.
In the 5th, Byer singled and moved up on a passed ball, before Starr Krenzke hit her to 3rd. A LaMonica walk loaded the path, and Krueger’s grounder to shortstop drove in the run. A fly ball and grounder ended the threat.
Thus it took a combination of pitcher Makayla Heckendorf and solid defense to put away the pesky Warriors.
“The story of the game for us was pitching and defense, though,” Ellenbecker said. “It’s been the case all year, really. When Makayla was a little shaky in the middle innings, our defense stepped up to make some big plays behind her. Lindsay Krueger converted a big double play in a bases-loaded situation in the third inning to get us out of it without any runs scoring. Casey Steffen has been terrific out in left field since coming back from an ankle injury. She gets to a lot of balls for us. Brianna has settled in as the boss for us in the outfield. She gets after a ball right off the bat now, and if she can get there she is taking it.
“Really, our entire team has played some solid defense. JoJo Catlin made a terrific scoop at first base that probably saved us a run or two. Leesha (Kleinschmidt) has been very tough behind the plate. Not scoring a lot of runs puts pressure on a defense, but we haven’t folded to that at all to this point.”
Steffen made a racing catch to end West’s 2-run 6th, and with the Warriors threatening with runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 7th, she did it again.
Heckendorf (5 H, 6 W, 4 K, 2 R, 2 ER in 7 I) pitched the win. Krueger (2-3, 2-3B, 3 RBI), Byer (2-4, 2B, 2 R), LaMonica (1-2, 3B) and Heckedorf (1-3, 2B) keyed the 9-hit offense.
Regional final
The Jays had dropped 15-5 and 12-2 games to Everest in their Valley meetings on May 6. Merrill limited the Evergreens to 2 in the 1st, 1 in the 3rd and 3 in the 6th, but were unable to get on the board.
“We knew coming into this game that we would probably need to score 5-7 runs to be able to win it,” Ellenbecker said. “That is a tough task going against Brooke Gajewski, who is likely the best pitcher in the conference. Gajewski throws hard and throws a few different pitches so the ball is always moving up, down, or away from you. Speed you can catch up with, but movement is tough to square up on. We struggled to do that today.
“Everest’s leadoff hitter did what slap hitters do: put pressure on the defense and make things happen. She got on base a couple of times, and when that happens they are really set to score runs, as their 3-4-5 hitters are all amongst the top in the conference. Makayla did a really nice job against a team that hit her very hard a couple of weeks earlier. She only allowed three earned runs, and I would even say a couple of those were more due to positioning issues. Her location was better than it was during the West game.”
Heckendorf (10 H, 2 W, 3 K, 6 R, 3 ER in 6 I) took the loss. Krueger (2-3, 2B), Byer (1-3, 2B) and Kleinschmidt (1-3) accounted for Merrill’s 4 hits.
“Offensively we struggled to hit the ball hard,” Ellenbecker said. “We had four hits in the game and only had two runners reach second base .”