Joel Karnick
After a first round bye in the WIAA softball regionals, the Butternut Mercer Pioneers traveled to Tony to take on Flambeau. The Pioneers strike first with walks by Jersey Polencheck and Josie Wegner who both steal to get into scoring position for a big 2 out 2 rbi hit by Anya Bandenburg to give the Pioneers a quick 2-0 advantage. Flambeau answers with one of their own in the bottom of the frame to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Pioneers offense right back at it with a leadoff double by Kaylee Schloer and walk to Izzy Pryzbylski. Then singles by Jersey Polencheck, Jenny Klopatek, and Lizzie Pritzl push 4 runs across to extend the lead to 6-1. Flambeau cuts the lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the 3rd and both teams go quietly in the 4th and 5th innings with some spectacular defense plays on both sides. Butternut Mercer nabs an insurance run in the top of the 6th with a Jenny Klopatek double and an RBI single by Josie Wegner. Flambeau chips away by scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th to make it 7-4. The Pioneers strand a runner in scoring position in the top of the 7th and can’t quite shut the door as Flambeau ties the game up with 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning.
“We almost had them right there but a high shallow fly ball got pushed hard by the wind and landed just out of the reach of our center fielder. Great effort but just couldn’t quite get to it. Good job staying composed to get out of that inning.” – Coach Glenn Wegner. To extra innings we go….Jersey Polencheck wastes no time as she riips a leadoff double and scores on a Lizzie Pritzl RBI single to give the Pioneers a 1 run lead. Flambeau however fights back with the top of their lineup producing a leadoff triple followed by back to back hits and a sac fly to win the contest 9-8 in a hard fought game.
Jersey Polencheck for Butternut Mercer and Anna Hughes for Flambeau both go the distance on the mound. “Hats off to Flambeau for battling back tonight. We played our most complete game tonight and really made them earn it. We definitely had some chances but just came up a bit short. Really proud of the effort from everyone.”-Coach Glen Wegner
