Lady Jays smash it in softball with three wins last week
TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
On Tuesday, June 8, Merrill Bluejay Girls Softball celebrated Senior Night playing against Tomahawk at the MARC.
“We started off a little slow offensively, and our bats never really got hot,” said Coach Matthew Ellenbecker, “but we did a good job getting on base, and we were able to put pressure on Tomahawk and create runs that way. The box score shows only 6 hits, but we drew 7 walks and stole 5 bases.”
“Again we had great contributions from players throughout the entire roster,” Coach said. “The game ending run was a heads up base running play by our courtesy runner, Erica Arneson. It’s playoff time now, so we’ll have to be able to manufacture runs at some point without being able to count on three base hits or a home run. We’ll need to be able to take bases when they are available, and we did a good job of that tonight.”
Olivia Losee (2R, 2H) and Dani Korman (2R, 1H) both scored two runs each.
“It was a great Senior Night for us,” Coach Ellenbecker said. “We have eight seniors this year, and the effort and energy we played with today was a great way to honor their commitment to the program. We appreciate all the work they put in and what they have given to Merrill High School Softball. Now the goal is to keep them around here for a few more weeks in the post season.”
Box score:
Tomahawk 0 @ Merrill 10
On Monday, June 7, the Lady Jays played a double header against the Wausau West Warriors.
“The Warriors were scrappy and persistent,” Coach Ellenbecker said, “but the Jays held strong and got the 10-5 victory in game one of the Wisconsin Valley Conference double header.”
“We took advantage of some West miscues early on,” he said, “but we weren’t able to settle in and drive the ball for a big hit to bust things open. We were a little antsy at the plate and rolled over a lot of weak ground balls to our pull side.”
“By the fourth inning, we adjusted and started driving the ball a little more. Nicole Zoellner and Brenna Steinagel ripped doubles that were important in padding our lead a little.”
“West did a good job putting good at-bats together in this one,” Coach said. “We wanted to be aggressive with our pitching, and they took advantage of a couple of balls that were out over the plate. We had a couple of miscues defensively, but for the most part our pitchers and defense picked each other up and limited the damage.”
By the end of the game, Courtney Krueger (2R, 4H, 2RBI), Kendall Krueger (2R, 2H, 3RBI), Brenna Steinagel (2R, 1H, 1RBI) and Erica Arneson (2R) had all scored 2 runs each.
Box score:
Merrill 10 @ Wausau West 5
In the second game against Wausau West, “We came out firing this game,” Coach said. “Addy Schmeltzer and Kendall Krueger were solid in the circle and our bats provided a ton of support. We had 13 hits, including doubles from Courtney Krueger and Kendall Kruegr and a big three-run home run in the bottom of the first from Hannah Losee. Hannah really had a big game for us with that HR, 4 RBI, and a stolen base.”
“We had contributions from top to bottom in this one,” he added. “Brea Pieper made a big play on a liner to get us out of the second inning with no runs allowed. We had players off the bench scoring runs and moving base runners. We are beginning to really look sharp on the bases, finding that fine line between aggressive and reckless. This was a good game for the Merrill Bluejays.”
Courtney Krueger made three runs (3R, 2H, 2RBI) while Kendall Krueger (2R, 2H, 2RBI), Brenna Steinagel (2R, 2H), and Dani Korman (2R, 2H) all scored two runs each in the game.
Box score:
Wausau West 2 @ Merrill 12