JUDA — Argyle clinched its second consecutive Six Rivers East title June 9, beating rival Juda-Albany 1-0 in a pitcher’s duel despite being no-hit. The win over the Panthers was in the same location — by the same margin, and also in the regular season finale — as the in 2019 game, which earned the Orioles its first league championship.

Elsewhere on June 9, Barneveld defeated Pecatonica, meaning Argyle and Barneveld are co-champs for this season.

“It’s been a great year,” said Heidi Ganshert, Argyle’s coach. “We started off a little shaky with seven people to replace, and I don’t think a lot of people realized that. We have juniors, but most of them haven’t played varsity yet. They’ve come a long way.”

The only score of the game came as a manufactured run in the top of the fourth inning. Megan Johnson walked on five pitches, then stole second and third two pitches apart. Megan Larson then dropped her bat to the dirt for a squeeze bunt, and Johnson darted for home as the throw went to first base, scoring easily. 

It was the third and final time Argyle would get a runner into scoring position in the game, as Juda-Albany starter Avery Briggs closed out the game with 12 straight outs.

“She’s really gotten a lot better as the season has gone on,” Juda-Albany coach Bill Davis said of his freshman hurler. “She doesn’t get rattled much when baserunners get on. She makes pitches to keep us in the game. She’s really progressed, and I’m really looking forward to her in the coming years — she’s got a bright future in front of her.”

The Panthers had multiple opportunities in the game to score, as leadoff hitter Brianna Dahl was 3-for-3 in the contest. In the first inning, Dahl singled on the first pitch she saw but was called out of the baseline when caught in a rundown on a squeeze attempt.

Heidi Ganshert said that the Orioles knew that once Dahl took off, “she’d be coming like a freight train,” so they made sure the checked on her before getting the force out at first.

Dahl then tripled with one out in the third. When Ciarrah Davis dropped down another squeeze attempt, Dahl hesitated, waiting for the throw to first to take off — however, Argyle pitcher Grace Ganshert pump-faked her throw to first and again caught Dahl in a rundown. Dahl appeared to score under the tag at the plate, but the umpire called her out of the baseline again.

“That was pretty close call — she zigged a little bit,” Bill Davis admitted. “We tried to bunt it a couple of times tonight, but that didn’t work. We bunted it to the wrong spots. We lost a no-hitter tonight. That’s kind of tough. We just need to find that one hit to get that runner in.”

Grace Ganshert sat down the next eight hitters until Dahl singled again in the sixth. Gracie Freitag singled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Ganshert struck out the next batter to end the game. Her teammates piled on her at the front of the pitcher’s circle in celebration of the win.

“They are a fantastic team and they hit the ball a lot better than we did today, but our defense really played solid,” Heidi Ganshert said.

Grace Ganshert struck out six batters and allowed five hits and no walks. Briggs also struck out six, but walked three.

Two days prior, Argyle blanked Monticello-New Glarus 11-0, ending the game in the sixth with a 6-run inning. Grace Ganshert allowed one hit and struck out 12 with no walks. Johnson had three hits, Larson and Lindsay Connors each had two. Chesney Leigh collected four hits and four RBIs. Larson and Leigh doubled. Alexa Siegenthaler had MNG’s lone hit — a double in the bottom of the fifth. 

The same day, Juda-Albany lost to Barneveld 6-1, putting the Panthers a game behind the Eagles and Orioles in the conference championship race. None of the six runs against Briggs were earned, though she did allow eight hits and walked six. Anna Skoumal had two hits for Juda-Albany. 

“We’re putting the ball in play, which is good, and we’re cutting down the strikeouts — but we need that one clutch hit. We’re getting runners on second and third and we’re just not finding a way to get that run in,” Bill Davis said. “I hate to say after a loss that I like where we are headed, but we played better tonight (against Argyle) than we did against Barneveld.”

Juda-Albany was given a 4-seed despite being ranked among the top teams in the state, and hosts a regional semifinal June 14 against Kenosha St. Joseph in the WIAA Division 4 playoffs. 

“We’ll just play whoever we play. I thought going in we could be anywhere from a 1- to a 4-seed. The way it played out with us losing a couple of games here in a row, I’m happy with the way it is,” Davis said. “Bring it one and let’s see what we’ve got. We just need to put hits together now.”

Argyle had one last nonconference game scheduled for June 11 at Mineral Point, then will host Southwestern June 14. The Wildcats knocked off Black Hawk in the D5 postseason opener June 9.

“I think we’re just going to continue to work on batting — batting and playing in the heat. This (heat) is always a huge factor,” Heidi Ganshert said.