The Eagle softball team hosted Lake Mills last Wednesday, with the Bulldogs surviving for a 15-12 win in a back and forth affair. The visitors took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, only to give up five scores to the purple & gold in the third. Lake Mills took the lead back 7-5 with a four-run forth, and again back came the home ladies to plate three scores in the bottom of that inning. The Bulldogs countered with two runs in their half of the fifth to make for a 9-8 advantage, with the Eagles making it 9-9 after five as nothing was decided just yet. Lake Mills then busted it open with six scores in the sixth for a 15-9 lead that the Eagles could not recover from.
Bulldogs 15, Eagles 12
Player AB H R RBI
Friedl 3 2 2 2
Ad. Jeske 4 2 2 1
B. Steil 2 0 1 0
Flumerfelt 5 0 0 0
S. Kaiser 3 2 2 1
Middleton 2 0 2 1
Osborne 3 1 1 2
Axtell 4 0 1 0
C. Steil 2 0 0 0
Other runs scored; Anderson 1
Doubles: S. Kaiser 2, Osborne 1
Walks: Middleton 3, Friedl 2, Jeske, B. Steil, S. Kaiser,
Osborne, Axtell 1 ea.
HBP: B. Steil 2, S. Kaiser, Osborne 1 ea.
Steals: Friedl 3, Jeske, S. Kaiser, Conaway, Anderson 1 ea.
Pitching IP H ER BB K’s
Osborne 5 6 6 6 2
B.Steil(L) 2 5 3 1 1
“I think everyone did well as a team,” said Suzi Kaiser. We were keeping the positivity up, which we struggle with at times. Everyone wa cheering and we could have won it if we went out starting energized. Overall it was a good game for everyone, and I’m happy that these are my teammates.”
“This game went down to the last at-bat,” stated head coach Jim McLaughlin. “We had two runners on and the tying run at the plate when the game ended. We only had seven hits, but got 10 walks and four hit batters to help our offense get untracked. Our defense also played much better in this game.”
Prior to that, they lost 12-2 in Algona to Bishop Garrigan. The Golden Bears erupted for an 8-1 lead after two complete innings, and rolled on from there for the win. The Eagles scored in the top of the first and again in the fifth, both by Lea Friedl. Friedl was joined by Jeske, B. Steil, Flumerfelt and Middleton at a base hit each. Steil took the loss, allowing three earned on five hits with three walks and three K’s.
“We struggled offensively, with only five total hits,” said the coach. “Defensively, we committed three errors in the first two innings and fell behind early.”
A game at Manson on Thursday result in an 11-2 loss to the MNW Cougars. Jeske and Nadia Kaiser scored the runs, with Jeske bringing Nadia home and Flumerfelt batting Addy in. Jeske and Flumerfelt had two hits each of the six total connections. Middleton and Axtell chipped in the rest. Osborne took two free trips to first, with Friedl, B. Steil, Flumerfelt, S. Kaiser and N. Kaiser advancing once each. B. Steil and Olivia Conaway had a steal each. Osborne took the loss in the circle, surrendering four earned on 12 hits with two walks, a hit batter and three strikeouts.
“This was our eighth game of the season, and we have given up at least three runs in the first inning every game,” said McLaughlin. “We’ve talked about how hard it is to be competitive when we start in a hole every night. We did not take advantage of all the runners we got on as we left 13 stranded.”
