On May 22nd, the Belleville Wildcats played at Watertown Luther Prep, losing 5-6.

“Luther Prep started the game with their first hitter reaching on an error, then stealing 2nd. The second batter bunted that runner to 3rd. Following batter walked, then stole 2nd for runners at 3rd and 2nd. A hit back to Cassidy Heller kept the run from scoring, and got us the second out, but an error on the next batter allowed the run to score,” said Coach Connie Wunschel.

At the bottom of the fourth inning, Luther Prep was ahead, 5-0.

“In the top of the fifth is when Maddi Weber took over (pitching) and she was on fire, striking out the side,” continued Wunschel. “The sixth inning is when we started to get things hopping – down 5-0 we started off with lead off hitter Cassidy Heller, who got a base hit but was forced out on Alli Kowalski’s grounder. Brianna Halverson then coaxed a four pitch walk. Bailey Legler then had another base hit up the middle to score Alli. Both runners moved up a base via passed ball. Callie Everson had a base hit to the middle that scored Brianna. Grace Patrow worked hard to earn a walk to load the bases, but we couldn’t muster any more hits. In the seventh we did some damage to tie the score up 5-5. Started with Abby Winterburn getting a base hit up the middle, then a base hit to right by Cassidy, which moved Abby and Cassidy up a base on a wild throw in by the right fielder. Alli followed up with a hard shot to center to score them both, and wild throw by their center fielder got Alli all the way to 3rd. Our next two batters then struck out, leaving Alli at 3rd, but while Callie was batting, the pitcher had a wild pitch that allowed Alli to scamper home safely to tie the game. Our next batter then struck out to end the inning. Tied 5-5. In the bottom of their seventh we got the batter out on an infield pop fly, which was big because she had two doubles before that! A full count base hit then followed. Maddi struck out the next batter for the second time, so we were feeling pretty good with two outs, and the next batter Maddi had struck out the time before. But this batter was determined to not have that happen again and on a full count smacked a double to right center that scored the winning run from 1st. It was a well hit ball on a pitch that was left up a little too high.”

“This was a really good game, and I was so proud of the way the girls fought back,” finished Wunschel. “Hard one to lose.”

Cassidy Heller, Alli Kowalski and Bailey Legler were 2-4 at bat. Heller scored one run while Kowalski scored two and Legler had one RBI. Callie Everson had one hit and one RBI. Abby Winterburn had one hit and scored one run.

Cassidy Heller pitched for four innings, giving up five runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out two. Maddi Weber took over for the final three innings, giving up one run on three hits and striking out four. Weber struck out all three batters in the fifth inning.

In the regional game against 10th seeded Clinton, the 7th seeded Wildcats lost, 1-6. The game, suspended after two innings, began on Tuesday and finished on Wednesday due to dangerous field conditions.

In the first two innings, Clinton took the lead. On Wednesday, Clinton began with back-to-back doubles to score a run, followed by an error.

“On two outs, Alli had a base hit and moved to 2nd on a passed ball, but we couldn’t do more. Cassidy gave up one base hit in the fourth but struck out hitters #2 and #3 to end it,” explains Wunschel. “Bottom of fourth for us had us hoping! Bailey led off with a hit to left center and moved to 2nd on a throwing error by the center fielder. Callie was then hit by a pitch on an 0-2 count, but again, our bats failed us. They collected another run in the fifth – with one out (a strike out). Cassidy hit the next batter on an 0-2 count, who would eventually score on an error. Both sides took care of business in the sixth. They tacked on one more in the top of the seventh. Maddi was pitching now, and she gave up back to back hits and they moved up on a passed ball, a stolen base, and then scored on a passed ball. We got a ground out, then another base hit, but Maddi struck out their #1 and #2 hitters to stop the threat. Our last turn at bat had possibilities – Abby Winterburn led off with a bloop single over the shortstop’s head, and stole 2nd. Cassidy struck out, but Allie followed with a base hit to center that scored Abby, and she got to 2nd on a passed ball. She was moved to 3rd on a ground out by Brianna, but their pitcher struck out Bailey to end the game.”

“It was a good game, and if we could’ve taken away our errors and passed balls we had a much better chance,” said Wunschel, “and the score would’ve been much closer.”

As a team, the Wildcats had five hits and struck out 13 times. Alli Kowalski went 2-4 with one RBI and Cassidy Heller, Bailey Legler and Abby had one hit each.

The Wildcats ended their season 4-12 in conference play, and 5-16 overall.

Coach Wunschel said, “A highlight was winning over Waterloo twice this season. We had many close games, and games that went into extra innings that show we have the capability of pulling them off. We again had a very young team, starting as many as five sophomores and two freshman. With some hard work we can make the changes that need to happen to help us get the Ws next year.”