Joel Karnick
The Butternut Mercer Pioneer softball team braved the elements on Tuesday night and hosted Ironwood at the newly renovated softball field in Mercer. Sophomore Josie Wegner with her first start on the mound and shuts the Ironwood offense down 1-2-3 with 2 strikeouts in the top of the first. The Pioneers get a big 2 out triple from Jen Klopatek who dives in safely at home after an errant throw to start the scoring. Wegner goes 1-2-3 in the top of the second with another K and the then proceeds to help her own cause with an RBI triple scoring Rylinn Rossi who drew a walk earlier. Wegner then scores on a fielder’s choice groundout by Amber Eith to give the Pioneers a 3-0 lead after 2 innings. Ironwood scratches out a run in the top of the 3rd but Butternut Mercer answers right back with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame. Jersey Polencheck draws a leadoff walk and promptly steals 2nd and 3rd and scores on a fielder’s choice by Anya Brandenberg to push the advantage to 4-1. Ironwood plates 2 in the top of the 4th inning with a couple walks, an error and double to pull within a run and then tie the game in the top of the 5th. The Pioneer offense came alive in the bottom of the 5th with hits by Jen Klopatek, Lizzie Pritzl, and Rylinn Rossi to plate 2 runs to regain the lead at 6-4. Jersey Polencheck comes in to pitch a clean 6th inning and the Pioneer offense goes right back to work and bats around to bust the game open, scoring 6 runs. Hits by Polencheck, Izzy Przybylski, Jen Klopatek, Lizzie Pritzl, Josie Wegner, and Kaylee Powers. Ironwood plates a run in the top of the 7th but Polencheck shuts the door with a strikeout to secure the save. Wegner with her first career win on the mound allowing 2 earned runs on 2 hits, 4 walks, 2 hit batters with 6 K’s. “This was the first time since our co-op partnership with Mercer that we played a game in Mercer. Hats off to their crew to get their field ready. We are hoping this will help draw interest for future players to join the program. Despite the nasty wind and cold, we had a great turnout of fans and I could tell the girls felt that excitement. Can’t say enough about the job Josie did in her first start. She has put a lot of work into the offseason to get ready for this. Great job behind the plate by Lizzie Pritzl tonight as well. Even got her fist caught stealing tonight which snuffed out a potential rally late in the game. The offense really got jump started afterJen Klopatek’s round tripper in the first inning and that set the tone for the rest of the night. All around great effort tonight and contributions up and down the lineup. It was a great team victory for us”- Coach Glenn Wegner Up next for the Pioneers will be Hurley and Flambeau in Butternut at the John “Stick” Furtak Memorial tournament held this Saturday. Games start at 10:30
