MFL MarMac softball adds three wins
Bulldog second baseman Kaitlin Picha caught a Blue Devil player in a rundown for the last out of the sixth inning in MFL MarMac’s 4-1 game one win. (Photos by Audrey Posten)
Emme Wikner connects with a pitch in the Bulldogs’ doubleheader sweep of West Central.
Morgan Jacobson heads for home in the first of the Bulldogs' two wins against West Central last week.
Right fielder Savannah Schaller fields a ball in game one versus the Blue Devils.
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
The MFL MarMac softball team last week split a doubleheader versus Turkey Valley, then swept a pair of games from West Central, to move to 5-1 in the Upper Iowa Conference and 5-9 overall.
The Bulldogs were clinging to a 7-6 lead through the sixth inning of game one against the Trojans on June 5, when they erupted for a nine-run seventh. Although Turkey Valley tacked on two runs in the bottom of the frame, MFL MarMac won 16-8.
Bulldog players compiled a whopping 17 hits and 10 walks. Four of those hits came from Morgan Jacobson, who doubled twice, drove in two runs and scored three runs. Kaitlin Picha was 3-3—including two doubles—and walked twice. She knocked in three runs, stole a base and scored once. Katelyn Gerndt added three more hits, two RBIs and two runs scored, while Emme Wikner was 3-4 with an RBI and three runs scored.
The win went to Emily Troester, whose stat line read nine hits, seven earned runs and three strikeouts over seven innings.
In game two, it was Turkey Valley’s offense that came to play, posting nine hits and four walks in a 13-1 victory. Troester covered three innings and Devon Meyer one in the shortened game. Meyer took the loss.
MFL MarMac worked only two hits—doubles by Wikner and Ashley Shaw—off Trojan pitcher Sierra Morris. Wikner scored the team’s lone run.
On June 7, the Bulldogs edged West Central in both games of a doubleheader. They won the first 4-1, fueled by two-run first and fourth innings.
Troester picked up the win and led the offense with three hits, two of which were doubles. She also had an RBI and one run scored. Jacobson was 2-3 and scored a run, while Autumn Shaw singled and drove in two runs.
MFL MarMac trailed the Blue Devils 3-0 in game two, when a four-run fourth gave the team a one-run advantage. The Bulldogs increased their lead with another run in the sixth, but West Central tied it up in the next frame. MFL MarMac didn’t back down, though, securing a 6-5 walk-off in the bottom of the seventh.
Ayla Gerndt drove in three runs on two doubles and scored once. Garnett Niedziejko was 2-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, and Meyer singled, knocked in a run and scored once herself.
Meyer pitched six innings, allowing five hits, a walk, a hit batter and five runs—only three of which were earned. She struck out five Blue Devils. Troester earned the win in relief, giving up just a hit and a walk in an inning.
The Bulldogs will continue conference play this week, with a June 12 doubleheader at Kee, then a home doubleheader with South Winneshiek on June 14. They will also play in a weekend tournament at West Delaware.
