Joel Karnick
The Butternut Mercer Pioneer softball team hosted a non conference game vs the visiting Prentice Buccaneers on Friday night in Butternut. Prentice comes out very patient at the plate and draws 4 walks and a timely blop single to plate 4 runs to start off the contest and then tack one more on in the top of the 2nd to race out to a 5-0 lead. The Pioneer offense struggles to make solid contact at the plate until the bottom of the 4th inning. Anya Brandenburg walks to start the inning and Josie Wegner rips a triple to spark the offense. A couple more walks and hit batter along with singles by Jersey Polencheck, Lizzie Prtizl, Jen Klopatek, and Anna Schloer allow the Pioneers to score 10 runs to grab the lead at 10-5 after 4 complete. Prentice answers back with 2 of their own on an error, double and wild pitch to pull to within 3 runs at 10-7. Butternut Mercer scores 2 of their own in the bottom of the 5th with hits by Polencheck, Klopatek and Brandenburg to push the lead to 12-7. After a 1-2-3 inning by Prentice, the Pioneers plate another run after a leadoff triple by Anna Schloer. Prentice grabs a run after a walk and double but after back to back strikeouts, a nice overhead catch is made by Amber Eith at second base to seal the Pioneer victory. Jersey Polencheck gets the win going 6 innings with 3 hits, 3 walks, 1 hit batter and 6 K’s. Josie Wegner with an inning allowing 4 walks and a hit with 2 K’s. Next up for the Pioneers is a trip to Port Wing to take on the South Shore Cardinals on Monday.
