By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
The Union Grove High School softball team is starting to play up to its potential, winning four in a row. That includes a 7-0 win over Elkhorn Tuesday in the first game of a doubleheader. The results of the second game were unavailable at deadline.
In the 7-0 victory, the Bronco girls scored three runs in the third, one more in the fourth, and three more in the fifth.
Union Grove is now 5-4 overall, and 2-3 in the Southern Lakes Conference.
Racine County Invite
“Well, the Broncos finally showed why I am so high on them despite some sub-par performances lately,” head coach Ryan Boylen said after the Bronco girls went 3-0 in this tournament to take the championship.
In the first game, Union Grove trounced Racine St. Catherine’s 20-0 behind a five-inning no-hitter by Alyhssa McClelland.
McClelland walked just one and struck out six.
“She kept the ball down and hit corners on her way to her first career no-hitter,” Boylen said.
While McClelland was keeping the Angel bats silent, the Broncos pounded out 18 hits, while also earning seven walks.
Union Grove got a fast start in this game, scoring nine times in its first at-bat.
The Bronco girls added two more runs in the second, six in the third and three in the fourth.
Offensively, Claire Ryan and Sarah Petrovic each had four RBIs, with Zada Ballew and Becca Moore adding two apiece.
Moore and Alyssa McClelland each scored three runs.
In game two, Union Grove had to rally from a five-run deficit in a 7-6 victory over Racine Case.
Case scored twice in the second to take a 2-0 lead off Brooke Repta.
The Bronco girls scored one in the fourth, but Case added four runs in that inning to lead 6-1 after four.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the fifth when Union Grove erupted for six runs as time was expiring on the game.
The inning began with a leadoff triple, but the big hit came with two outs when Annie McClelland hit a single up the middle plating the winning run.
McClelland was 2-for-3 in the game, with Ryan leading the way with two RBIs.
That victory set up a match with Waterford for the championship.
“The Broncos topped off a good day by coming back against a team that just spanked them pretty good on (April 24), and proving that when they play fundamental softball they can play with anybody on any given day,” Boylen said.
Union Grove defeated Waterford 2-1, scoring twice in the third off a Ryan double, and limiting Waterford to a sole run in the sixth.
Allie Trudeau pitched five-plus innings giving up one run on three hits. She walked two and struck out two.
Petrovic pitched the final two innings, giving up just one hit.
Vs. Wilmot
One day earlier, Wilmot and Union Grove participated in a slugfest with Wilmot winning the Southern Lakes Conference game 19-10.
Wilmot pounded out 24 hits to the Broncos 13. In addition, Union Grove committed nine errors to Wilmot’s three.
“Clearly, this game was not a defensive clinic,” Boylen said. “The Broncos finally got the bats rolling a little bit, but the gloves did them in before they could get them going.”
Wilmot scored six in the first inning and never looked back, building leads of 6-1, 13-6, and 15-9.
Four Bronco hurlers tried to slow down the Panthers to no avail.
Leading Union Grove offensively were Repta and Bailey Waddell with three RBIs each and two hits apiece. Annie McClelland was 3-for-5 with three runs scored.
Vs. Waterford
On April 24 at home, the Bronco girls took a 1-0 after one inning, but Waterford tied it in the second, and took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth.
After Union Grove cut it to 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth, Waterford scored three times in the fifth, once in the sixth, and four times in the seventh. The result was an 11-2 defeat for the Bronco girls.
Union Grove managed just four hits, while two Bronco pitchers gave up 14.
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