BELMONT — With a pair of four-run innings, No. 5-ranked Belmont bested No. 6-ranked Juda-Albany 9-3 in the WIAA Regional Final game on Thursday, May 25. The two teams met earlier in the season, when the Braves shut out the Panthers 5-0.
After a scoreless first, both teams scored one run in the second.
Gracie Freitag led off the inning, reaching on an error, and Jackie Nusbaum singled to right. Freitag tagged up on a fly out from Myah Johnson and scored on a grounder by Briliey Swedlund.
Belmont’s Lainey Riechers lined a one-out double to right. She advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a passed ball.
The Panthers took a brief lead in the fourth, as Alana Durtschi led off with a six-pitch walk. With two outs, the Braves intentionally walked Johnson to get to Swedlund. On the sixth pitch of her at-bat, Swedlund made Belmont pay with an RBI single to center.
The Braves responded immediately in the bottom half of the frame with the first of their four-run innings. Addie McNett tied the game on a sacrifice fly. Payton Johnsen went to sacrifice herself with a bunt, but advanced to second on two straight errors, which allowed two runs to score. The final run of the inning cam across on an RBI single from Bailey Mester.
In the fifth, Belmont scored four runs on back-to-back singles from Johnsen and Kaci Riechers.
Juda-Albany pushed a run across in the top of the sixth on an RBI groundout from Nusbaum, but the deficit was too great.
The Panthers mustered three runs from Durtschi, Nusbaum and Swedlund. In the circle, starting pitcher Avary Briggs gave up just one earned run on seven hits, as Juda-Albany committed four errors. She struck out two and walked three.
Juda-Albany concluded its 2023 season with a 15-7 record and its first conference title since 2018.
Highland no hits Pecatonica
HIGHLAND — Pecatonica’s season came to an end with a 10-0 loss to Highland in the WIAA Regional Final on Thursday, May 25. Despite a narrow 8-6 loss to the Cardinals earlier in the season, the Vikings were unable to tally a hit in its latest contest.
Highland chased starting pitcher Chloe Schraepfer after just 1 1/3 innings pitched. The Cardinals tagged her with four earned runs on three hits. Diana Hendrickson came in for 2 2/3 innings of relief. She gave up one earned run on two hits. Trinity Gruenenfelder, Alyssa Cassidy and Schraepfer reached base via walk and error.
Pecatonica finishes with a 12-10 record and second-place finish in the Six Rivers East Conference. They were just one game out of first.
