By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
The Union Grove High School softball team kept its early-season record unblemished with a 4-1 win at Burlington Tuesday night.
With the win, the Bronco girls improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Southern Lakes Conference.
This game was scoreless until the top of the fourth when the Broncos scored twice to take a 2-0 lead.
Burlington cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth, but Union Grove responded with two runs in the top of the seventh for the final margin.
“We were not sharp tonight and we did not play Bronco softball tonight so just very happy to come away with a W,” head coach Ryan Boylen said. “I give Burlington a ton of credit. They made the plays when we hit it at them.”
Alice Fitzpatrick was solid on the mound, giving up just an infield hit while striking out 15. She did walk five batters, but did not let a ball out of the infield.
Offensively, the Broncos banged out nine hits, led by Fitzpatrick who was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Sheboygan North Invitational
The Bronco girls roared through this invitational Saturday, outscoring their opponents 37-3 while chalking up three wins.
“Our girls stung the ball all day and it seemed like we had a number of atom balls, but at the end of the day we came away with three pretty good victories,” Boylen said.
In the first game, Union Grove jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first on their way to an 11-2 win over Oak Creek.
The girls added two more in the second, one in each of the fourth and fifth innings, and three more in the seventh.
Oak Creek got single runs in the fourth and sixth.
The Broncos banged out 19 hits in this game, with eight of the nine starters getting two or three hits.
Amber Johnson was 2-for-4, including a triple and three RBIs. Alex Kies was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
Emily DeCheck, Alecia Faber, Alice Fitzpatrick and Anna McClelland all collected doubles.
DeCheck, Cassidy Kortendick and Katrina O’Keefe each had three hits.
Fitzpatrick pitched the first four innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks. She struck out nine.
Sarah Petrovic pitched the final three innings, giving up a run on four hits and striking out two.
The second game was called after five innings as Union Grove chalked up a 16-0 win over Green Bay Southwest.
The Bronco girls had 10 hits in this game, plus benefited from 10 walks and three hit batters. They scored twice in the first, 11 times in the third and three more times in the fifth.
Fitzpatrick pitched three innings of no-hit ball. She walked three and struck out five. DeCheck pitched the final two innings, giving up two hits.
Offensively, Fitzpatrick had two hits in three at-bats, driving in three runs.
Johnson, Alex Kies and McClelland each had two RBIs.
In the third game, Union Grove collected 19 more hits in a 10-1 win over Fond du Lac. In addition, the girls earned two walks.
The Broncos did not put this game away until the seventh when they scored six times to turn a 4-1 lead into a 10-1 win.
Kortendick was 4-for-4 at the plate, with DeCheck, Fitzpatrick and Kies adding three hits apiece. Fitzpatrick and McClelland had two RBIs each.
Fitzpatrick got the complete-game win, scattering two hits and two walks over seven innings. She struck out nine.
In the three games, Kortendick was 9-for-12, while Fitzpatrick was 7-for-11 with a walk. Kies was 7-for-13 with two walks. DeCheck was 6-for-8 with a walk.
The Broncos hosted Delavan-Darien in an SLC contest Thursday.
Next week, on Monday, April 23, they will travel to Lake Geneva to take on Badger. On Wednesday, April 25, they will host Westosha Central in a 4:30 p.m. game, and on Friday, April 27, they will be at Waterford. All are SLC games.
On Saturday, April 28, the girls will participate in the Waterford Invitational at Tichigan Fields.
-
-
-
-
-