Mitchell A. Skurzewski
Reporter
After a phenomenal start to the season, the Bluejays limped into the playoffs losing seven of their last eight regular season games. But, Merrill is back to playing good ball when it matters.
The Bluejays defeated Antigo/White Lake on Thursday, May 23, 5-0 to win a WIAA Division 2 Regional Final at the MARC Softball Complex.
”We knew we had to move on and hit the reset button and bring a new energy going into the playoffs,” Bluejay senior Kelsie Belfiori said, following Thursday’s triumph.
The Bluejays started the year 11-2, including a win over Stevens Point Area Senior High. But, the Jays finished the regular season with just one win in their final eight games.
”You say it every year, at playoff time, that it’s a new year, but this year it really is the case,” Merrill head coach Matt Ellenbecker said.
Merrill has now won both playoff games via shutout after a 15-0 thrashing of Colby/Abbotsford in a regional semifinal, on Monday, May 20.
Courtney Krueger continued her playoff mastery taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and tossing her second consecutive shutout, in Thursday’s win.
”The pitching has been awesome. We had a rough patch there but kept working,” Ellenbecker said. “Through two playoff games she’s (Krueger) been excellent and has came back into form,”
Merrill jumped on the Red Robins from the start. Belfiori led off the game with a stinging double that nearly cut through the stiff wind to clear the fence. She settled for a double which sparked a strong start for Merrill. The Jays scored three runs in the opening frame with the help of two Antigo/White Lake errors. After the Belfiori double, Krueger followed with a sacrifice bunt, but the first baseman tossed it wide of first, allowing Belfiori to score.
Michelle Lahr came up with runners on second and third and plated a run on an RBI groundout to first, but an errant throw home to try and nab Krueger resulted in both runners scoring and Merrill led 3-0.
”It was big to get off to a good start, it really gave us a lot of energy and pumped everybody up,” Belfiori said.
From there Krueger kept Merrill in control.
Krueger, in fact, was never really in a spot of trouble until the seventh inning. Merrill tacked on two runs in the fourth inning when Nicole Zoellner smacked an RBI triple to right field that the wind played tricks with. Megan Schroder followed with a blast to right field that was caught at the fence, but resulted in a sac fly plating Merrill’s final run. Krueger allowed a two-out double in the sixth inning, which was Antigo/White Lake’s first of the game. Krueger stranded Alayna Weix at second after a lineout to center field.
In the seventh, Krueger allowed a leadoff double and an infield single to start the inning, but stranded both runners to complete the shutout.
Now, Merrill is back on the incline of the rollercoaster that has been its season.
“We were struggling there to end the year but this is a tight group. They didn’t hang their heads, I think I hung my head more than they ever did,” Ellenbecker said. “It’s not easy when you struggle, but they never got down and have brought an energy to the field every day.”