By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield softball team is much improved this season, but Saturday showed it is still a little bit away from conquering the dominance that Stevens Point Area Senior High has had on the Wisconsin Valley Conference.
The Tigers competed well but lost both games of Saturday’s doubleheader at the Central Wisconsin Fairgrounds, falling 6-1 and 7-0 to the two-time defending WIAA Division 1 state champion and 12-time defending WVC champion Panthers.
SPASH pitcher Kelly Franks allowed a run in the first inning of Game 1 when Andie Varsho doubled and scored on Taylor Varsho’s groundout, but Marshfield didn’t manage another run the rest of the day.
Franks struck out two and didn’t walk a batter in the first game, allowing just two hits. In Game 2, she threw five innings, giving up just a pair of singles to Becky Boehning. Heather Woyak finished up the final two innings, giving up two walks and a hit, but completed the shutout.
“I told the girls after the game, ‘Your playing the best team in the state, your hitting against the best pitcher in the state and we were in it in every inning of both games,’” Marshfield coach Mike Voss said. “Unfortunately we had three bad innings that really hurt us, but at the same time I was really happy with the way we played.
“We were putting the ball in play and putting some pressure on them defensively.”
Stevens Point jumped on Marshfield pitcher Rhiannon Baierl with four runs in the top of the first in the opener. Baierl was sharp the rest of the way until allowing two runs in the seven on back-to-back doubles by Megan Cherney and Franks, and an error, the Tigers’ fifth of the game.
Baierl threw all 13 innings in the twinbill and combined for four strikeouts and three walks. She took a no-hitter into the fifth inning of the second game, but trailed 2-0 as SPASH plated a run in the first and another in the third as the baserunners who scored reached on errors.
The Panthers erupted for five runs on six hits in the fifth. Cassie Lepak and Kassie Kruger had RBI singles and Cherney knocked in two runs with a single. Another scored on a passed ball.
Marshfield (10-8, 4-4 Wisconsin Valley Conference) faces a big stretch during the next week when it plays three WVC games – Monday at D.C. Everest, Tuesday at Rhinelander and Thursday at home against Wausau East – as it shoots for second place in the Valley and a chance at a No. 1 seed in its Division 1 regional.
“We told them, ‘You played this well against the best team in the state, know we have to carry it over,’” Voss said. “If we can come out and play good defensively, and have Rhiannon pitch like she did against the best team in the state, hopefully that will translate into some wins for us. We have to come out ready to play and make something happen from that first pitch we see Monday night.”
Game 1
Panthers 6, Tigers 1
Stevens Point 400 000 2 – 6 9 1
Marshfield 100 000 0 – 1 2 5
WP: Kelly Franks. LP: Rhiannon Baierl.
SO: Franks 2; Baierl 2. BB: Franks 0; Baierl 2.
Top hitters: SP, Emily Miskoski 2B, RBI; Megan Cherney 2B; Franks 2-for-3, 2B, 2 RBIs. M, Andie Varsho 2B; Taylor Varsho RBI.
Game 2
Panthers 7, Tigers 0
Marshfield 000 000 0 – 0 3 3
Stevens Point 101 050 x – 7 6 2
WP: Franks. LP: Baierl.
SO: Baierl 2; Franks 4, Heather Woyak 3. BB: Baierl 1; Franks 2, Woyak 2.
Top hitters: M, Becky Boehning 2-for-2. SP, Cherney 1-for-2, 3 RBIs; Courtney Nelson 2B.
Records: Stevens Point 13-0, 6-0 Wisconsin Valley Conference; Marshfield 10-8, 4-4 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
