Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Gresham freshman Karissa Nietzer slides into Marion catcher Abby Polzin in the fifth inning of Gresham’s 9-3 win. Nietzer was safe after Polzin was unable to hang onto the ball.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Gresham junior Dani Huntington runs to first base after dropping down a bunt in the fifth inning of Friday’s 9-3 home victory. She beat out the throw from Marion pitcher Skylla Szczerbak for one of her two hits on the day.
Gresham junior Hailey Hoffman threw six consecutive scoreless innings, striking out nine batters and giving up two earned runs, in Friday’s 9-3 home victory over Marion.
Marion tallied four hits and capitalized on an error to score three runs in the first inning. From there, however, Hoffman scattered three hits over the final six innings, allowing just six base runners, none of whom advanced past second base.
Hoffman walked one over her seven innings of work. She gave up seven hits.
Abby Polzin singled to center field and then advanced to second on an error with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, but Hoffman bounced back and struck out Bridget Bazile to end the game.
“Hailey was pitching a heck of a game there,” Gresham head coach Amanda Reindl said.
Gresham struggled to get its offense going in the first two innings but began to manufacture runs in the third. Kristen Bowman walked, and then Mackenzie Hoffman singled. Makena Arndt bunted for a single, and an error scored Bowman for the Wildcats’ first run of the day. Junior Kamille Davids hit a sacrifice to push the second run across.
“We were just a little anxious, but otherwise, we were hitting the snot out of the ball,” Reindl said.
The next inning was more of the same, as freshman Karissa Nietzer reached on a single and moved to third on a stolen base and error. Junior Dani Huntington put down a bunt and beat out the throw by Marion catcher Abby Polzin. Nietzer went for home on the throw to first and collided with Polzin at the plate, knocking the ball loose to tie the game.
In the fourth inning, a wild pitch gave Gresham the lead, 4-3, that it would not relinquish.
Nietzer added an RBI single in the fifth, and Kiersten Fischer drove in two runs on her single to center field. Another wild pitch scored Huntington again, and then Fischer gave Gresham (6-3, 6-3 Central Wisconsin Conference-10) its ninth run on a delayed steal.
Reindl was happy with her team’s patience at the plate.
“They just started fouling it off if it wasn’t there and waiting for their strike right down the middle,” Reindl said. “We came back for sure. After that first couple of innings, we were hitting the crap out of the ball.”
Marion head coach Jenny Korth said her team is improving. She has only three returning players in the same positions as last season — pitcher Skylla Szczerbak, Polzin and left fielder Shannon Hanson.
The Mustangs’ offense clicked in that first inning.
“Once they saw the first few girls get a hit, it built the rest of their confidence,” Korth said.
Marion (3-5, 3-5 CWC-10) committed four errors in the field, which led to four unearned runs.
“I definitely was happy with our defense minus a couple of errors, and I was happy with our hitting, if only it had stayed a little bit hotter a little bit longer,” Korth said.
Szczerbak picked up the loss for the Mustangs, pitching six innings and allowing eight hits. She gave up five earned runs while striking out eight. Korth credited the added strikeouts to the improvement in her change-up.
Mckenna Crum tallied two hits for the visitors. Bazile and Amiya Peterson had the two RBIs for Marion.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Marion 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 7 4
Gresham 0 0 2 2 5 0 x 9 8 2