Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Bonduel High School senior Kaylee Rynish drives a ball to deep left field to score the game-winning run Thursday in a 6-5, eight-inning victory over Amherst at home.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Bonduel High School junior third baseman Brittany Wudtke fields and throws a ball to first base Thursday early in Bonduel’s 6-5 home victory over Amherst.
Bonduel senior Kaylee Rynish finished a two-out, eighth-inning rally with a walk-off line drive to deep left field Thursday in the Bears’ 6-5 comeback victory over Amherst.
The Bears tallied four runs in the final two innings off Amherst junior starting pitcher Autumn Russell. Rynish’s drive, off Russell’s 140th pitch, brought in senior Miranda Schmidt from second base with the winning run.
“When (Kaylee) came up to bat, it was one of those feelings you get, that I felt she was going to, was actually hoping it would go over the fence because she has that ability, and she’s been hitting well,” Bonduel head coach Chris Reinke said. “So it was perfect timing.”
Russell was erratic in the final two frames, walking three batters and allowing five hits.
“I noticed that she was starting to get a little more rattled and starting to throw more balls,” Rynish said. “I knew as soon as one was going to come in, I knew I had to pull the trigger because that was going to be the one that hurt.”
With runners on base, Russell had no choice but to go after Bonduel’s clean-up hitter.
“We just got in a bad situation with her coming up, and we had nowhere to put her,” Amherst head coach Dale Jastromski said. “She put the ball in. She’s a good hitter.”
Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Bonduel, which had five hits in the first six innings, needed someone to start a rally.
Kailee Pedersen responded with an infield single, then advanced on two wild pitches and scored on a sacrifice by Schmidt. With two outs, Becca Carpenter pushed a ball back up the middle for a RBI single, and then Kaitlyn Bohr drilled a double that landed on the foul line and scored Carpenter to tie the game, 5-5.
“We just needed everybody to see someone get a bat on the ball because hits are contagious, so as soon as one person gets them on, generally, the rest of the team follows,” Rynish said.
Brynn Reinke led the Bears offensively with two RBIs, one in the second inning and another in the sixth. She had a chance to end the game in the seventh inning but grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the frame.
“I was excited and I knew she could do it, but at the same time, a mom behind the coach, I was kind of sick to my stomach,” Chris Reinke said.
Bonduel (7-7, 4-6 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) would not have been in position to defeat the Falcons had it not been for some timely defense and strong pitching from junior Cameri Gehm.
With one run already across the plate in the sixth inning, Amherst’s Brittney Furlow attempted a sacrifice bunt. She was thrown out at first, and Carpenter then made a good throw to Rynish at the plate to catch Katie Borgen trying to score from third.
Then, in the eighth inning, with two runners on base, Gehm induced a pop out and, following a single that loaded the bases, a ground out to end the threat.
“It seemed to me like she started to hit her spots a little bit better,” Chris Reinke said.
Though happy with the win, coach Reinke was not pleased that the Bears committed five errors, including three in the first two innings.
“They weren’t focused. We’ve talked about needing to clean up the next six games because the tournament is coming,” she said. “We’ve talked about defense, and they just weren’t doing it right away.”
Gehm was charged with three earned runs and nine hits in eight innings.
When the teams met on April 29, Amherst (6-7, 3-7 CWC-8) used a two-run seventh inning for a walk-off victory.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E
Amherst 0 2 0 0 1 1 1 0 5 10 1
Bonduel 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 1 6 11 5