By Coach Heather Struve
On Monday, June 1 South O’Brien traveled to Hartley for a conference game against the Hawks of HMS. The Wolverines got on the board first with a run in the third inning. Hannah Dau got a base hit with two outs and was hit in on a single by Willa Sickelka. In the bottom of the fifth inning HMS took the lead with a pair of runs.
Down 2-1 and heading into the top of the sixth inning the Wolverines finally came alive at the plate. Sickelka got things started with a base hit, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Abby Schreck hit a single and stole second. She scored on a single by Annika Jenness. Jenness scored later when Kaylee Jacobs reached base on an error. Jacobs was replaced by pinch runner Karlee Warnke who stole second and went to third on a passed ball.
Grace Fuhrman reached base on a walk and was replaced by courtesy runner Payton Farquhar. Farquhar stole second on the first and third situation and when HMS’ catcher threw to the shortstop Warnke beat the throw back to home for the score. That put the score at 4-2 with the Wolverines in the lead.
Fuhrman held the Hawks from scoring in the bottom of the sixth. With the bases loaded Fuhrman coaxed a fly ball to right fielder Kenna Bauer to end the inning. In the top of the seventh, South O’Brien put five insurance runs on the board. Dau and Jacobs hit singles and Fuhman blasted a double to the fence to highlight the frame. HMS got two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t get a run across the plate to end the game with a score of 9-2 in favor of the Wolverines.
Fuhrman got the win on the mound, going the full seven innings. She pitched a fantastic game only allowing one hit, walking four and striking out 10. She did a great job of keeping their hitters off balance with her variety of pitches. She also helped herself out at the plate with a double and a single and two RBI’s.
Jenness hit a triple and a single, scored twice and recorded two RBI’s. Dau and Sickelka each had a pair of base hits. Dau scored two runs and Sickelka one run. Jacobs had a single, two RBI’s and her pinch runner scored one. Schreck rapped a base hit, scored two runs and had an RBI. We were hitting the ball well, especially the last couple of innings. It was good to see us keep fighting when we were down a run late in the game.
S. O’Brien
0 0 1 0 0 3 5 – 9
HMS
0 0 0 0 2 0 0 – 2