MFL MarMac Softball suffers tough week
Bulldogs’ hitter Kacie Picha shows fierce determination at the plate as she waits for the pitch from Kee High last Monday, June 16. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press).
By Derick Kelly
The MFL MarMac Bulldogs varsity softball team had a tough week last week with nine games in 6 days. The Bulldogs began the week on Monday, June 16 with a doubleheader against Kee High in New Albin. The Bulldogs opened up game one with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. The hosts got one run back in the bottom of the first inning to make the score 2-1 in favor of MFL.
The score remained 2-1 in favor of MFL MarMac until the bottom of the third inning when the Hawks plated six runs to take a 7-2 lead before adding three more runs in the bottom of the fourth as Kee High held on to the 10-2 lead for the rest of the game.
The Bulldogs offense collected five hits in the game from Garnett Niedziejko (double), Kacie Picha, Brooklyn Landt (double), Jerica Wille (double) and Kytlee Warrington.
Game two went to the Hawks as well as they defeated the Bulldogs 8-0 to earn the doubleheader sweep. The Hawks pitching was very strong, allowing only one Bulldog hit (Landt), two walks (Emme Wikner and Landt) and one hit-by-pitch (Picha).
The Bulldogs returned home the following night to face Turkey Valley to resume a doubleheader originally scheduled for June 11. The Trojans used a three-run third inning to go up 3-1 but the Bulldogs had other plans as they responded with two runs in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game up 3-3. Turkey Valley responded in kind by scoring twice in the fourth inning to retake the lead at 5-3. They would add two more runs in the fourth to extend their lead to 7-3. MFL cut their deficit in half with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning but were unable to get any closer as Turkey Valley would hold on for a 7-5 victory.
The Bulldogs offense had nine hits in the loss, including multi-hit games from Wikner (2-for-4 with a double, triple, one run scored and two RBIs), Landt (2-for-4) and Wille (2-for-3 with a double and one run scored). The remaining three Bulldog hits came from Picha, Khloe Schutte and Niedziejko.
South Winn came to Monona last Wednesday for a doubleheader and earned a sweep. Game one saw the Warriors hold the Bulldogs to two hits as the visitors earned a 16-1 win in four innings. Wikner (double) and Niedziejko each had a hit in the loss.
Game two went to South Winn by a score 11-3 but the Bulldogs offense had a much better showing than in the first game. MFL had eight hits in the loss, with Kensey Ball leading the offensive attack by going 2-for-3 with a double, one run scored and one RBI. Also contributing to the MFL offense was Emma Grau (1-for-3 with one walk and two RBIs), Wille, Wikner, Landt, Schutte and Gracyn Welch.
The Bulldogs ended the week this past Friday by traveling to West Delaware for a invitational with a pair of games on both Friday and Saturday. MFL opened up the invite by facing North Linn and Independence on Friday. Against North Linn in game one of the day, the Lynx scored three runs in the top of the first to take an early 3-0 lead but the Bulldogs got two runs of their own in the bottom of the second inning to make it a one-run game. North Linn got one run back in the third before breaking the game open with five runs in the top of the fourth inning. Despite MFL getting two more runs in the fifth inning, North Linn would go on to earn a 12-4 victory. The Bulldogs were held to five hits in the loss, with Grau (2-for-3 with one run scored), Wikner (2-for-3 with a double, one run scored and one RBI) and Lauryn Sandstrom (1-for-2) accounting for all five Bulldog hits.
Game two on Friday for the Bulldogs was against Independence and the Mustangs used an eight-run sixth inning to defeat MFL MarMac 15-1 in six innings. The Bulldogs scored once in the fourth inning to make the score 4-1 but were unable to cool down the Mustangs offense the last two innings. Leading the Bulldogs offense was Wikner (2-for-3), Picha (1-for-3) and Schutte (1-for-3).
Day two of the Western Dubuque Hawk Invitational began with a familiar foe for MFL MarMac in the Kee High Hawks. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Kee jumped out to a 5-0 lead through five innings before MFL got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Kee extended their lead with four runs in the top of the sixth inning and the Bulldogs were unable to answer as the game ended 9-2 in favor of Kee High after six innings due to the extreme heat. Wikner kept up her torrid hitting by going 3-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI to lead the Bulldogs at the plate. Grau, Picha and Aaliyah Corcoran had the Bulldogs’ other three hits in the loss.
