Wildcats Softball Victorious Against Cambridge

On May 14th, the Belleville softball team played against Johnson Creek, winning 14-8.
Coach Connie Wunschel had to wonder, “Is it spring yet? It was snowing during our games!”
The game began with Johnson Creek taking the lead 4-1 early on. Belleville’s first run was, “Due to some messy pitching,” Wunschel said. “Ryley Helwig walked on four straight pitches. She proceeded to steal both 2nd and 3rd. Alli Kowalski then struck out, but the catcher dropped the ball, so when the catcher threw to 1st to get Alli out, Ryley scored. The next two batters also walked and were able to move up bases from a stolen base, then a wild pitch, but our next two batters couldn’t make anything happen, so they were left on base.”
After Johnson Creek made the score 6-5 in their favor, the Wildcats fought back.
“In the fifth, Leah Blask led off by getting hit by the pitch (she was hit three of the four times at bat), Liz walked, Ryley walked. Alli walked to score Leah, Tara walked to score Liz, Miranda had a base hit to score Riley, Bailey hit into a fielder’s choice to get Alli out at home for out one. Cassidy then had another base hit up the middle to score Tara. Brianna had a grounder to force Miranda out at home. Still, bases loaded, two outs. Leah Blask then dumped one over to the right side and great hustle by the runners to score both Bailey and Cassidy. Liz walked, followed by Ryley with a shot to left to score Brianna, which finished our scoring,” explains Wunschel.
Belleville scored one more run in the top of the seventh to make the score 14-6. Johnson Creek tried to make a run for it in the bottom of the seventh, but could only get two runs.
Cassidy Heller pitched the entire game for the Wildcats, facing 31, striking out five, walking zero and giving up nine hits.
At bat, as a team, Belleville only had seven hits. They were walked 13 times and were hit by pitches five times. They also had six stolen bases.
Cassidy Heller was 2-5, with two runs scored and three RBIs. Tara Hanna was 1-2, with two runs scored, two BB, one HP, two stolen bases and 2 RBIs. Ryley Helwig was 1-3, with two runs scored, three BB, two stolen bases and two RBI.
Game two in the tournament was played against Orangeville, IL. Belleville lost 3-19.
“They are a strong team and can hit the ball hard,” said Wunschel. “They had two homeruns over the fence.”
Belleville scored two runs in the first inning to bring the score within one, but that was as close as they could get. Orangeville scored three in the first, 12 in the third and four in the fourth. “I thought we batted strong against them, getting nine hits, but we just couldn’t make up for all of their runs,” said Wunschel.
Ryley Helwig started at pitcher, staying in the game for 2 2/3 innings. Helwig struck out one, walked three, gave up 12 hits and 15 runs. Cassidy Heller took over for the last 1 1/3 inning, striking out one, walking zero and giving up three hits and two runs.
Ryley Helwig “Had a fantastic game,” said Wunschel. Helwiig was 3-3, with one run scored and one RBI. Tara Hanna went 2-2, with one run scored and hit one double. Bailey Legler was 2-2, with two RBIs. Cassidy Heller and Liz Ortgiesen had one hit each.
On May 16th, the team hosted Marshall, losing 2-15.
“After playing them at their place the first time, and only losing 0-3 I had high hopes that we could keep the game close and maybe surprise the 1st place team in our division of the conference, but they pretty much had their way with us,” said Wunschel.
Marshall scored in every inning but the fourth.
Ryley Helwig started the scoring with one in the first. Cassidy Heller scored off an RBI by Bailey Legler in the third inning.
After the third inning, the Wildcats were only down by two, but Pitcher Cassidy Heller couldn’t hold their batters off and they scored four runs in the fourth.
“We struggled with the strike zone, striking out nine times, a season high. Their pitcher walked only three, and Bailey had two of those,” explained Wunschel.
On the mound, Cassidy Heller took the loss. She faced 40 batters, walked two, hit one and struck out zero.
Ryley Helwig, Alli Kowalski, Tara Hanna, Leah Blask and Miranda O’Rourke had the team’s five hits.
On May 17th, the Wildcats hosted Cambridge for a doubleheader. Seniors Tara Hanna, Ryley Helwig and Miranda O’Rourke were honored for Senior Night.
“We also had a visit from former Assistant Coach Teri Fahey, and graduated player Taylor Wallom. The energy and support was felt all around as we took both games!”
In game one, Belleville won 4-3 in eight innings. Ryley Helwig started the scoring off in the first inning off a hit by Tara Hanna to right field.
Cambridge took the lead in the second inning, 2-1.
In the top of the sixth, “Their lead off batter fought off six pitches to finally hit another one into foul territory along the left field side that Calli Everson ran after and dove and caught for the third out. How huge was that???” said Wunschel. “That catch sparked us to score two, to tie the game in the seventh. After two outs, Cassidy hit a grounder to their short stop that scooped it, but under threw to 1st, and the ball went out of play and moved Cassidy to 2nd. I subbed in Leah Hanna to run for her. Alli then hit another to short up the middle and again she threw the ball into the ground and Leah moved to 3rd. Alli then stole 2nd, which was a really big deal as Tara then ripped a shot to the right side to score them both!”
In game two, the Wildcats defeated Cambridge, 9-7.
Belleville took the lead early on and were leading 5-0 by the third. Cambridge fought back and scored four runs of their own in the bottom of the third, but at the top of the fourth Belleville had three more runs. It got close again in the bottom of the fourth, with the score at 8-7.
“A couple of nice plays by our infield helped to get out of it. Base hit followed by sacrifice bunt. Another base hit for runners at the corners. Another sac bunt for out two, but a run scored and moved the other runner to 2nd. Next batter hit a triple over Abby Winterburn’s head in right to score a run, and the next batter had a blooper to left to score another run. Brianna ended the inning by throwing the next batter out at 1st. After that we shut them down. We did score one more in the sixth to make it 9-7. After another base hit by Alli, and an error on Tara’s hit, Allie moved around the bases on a couple passed balls,” explained Wunschel.
Cassidy Heller pitched both games. In game two, she struck out five with ten hits and zero walks.
At bat, Heller was 2-4, with two runs scored, one double and one RBI. Alli Kowalski went 4-4, with four runs scored and one RBI. Miranda O’Rourke went 1-4, with three RBIs. Ryley Helwig was 1-4, with two runs scored and one double.
Belleville played their last conference game, against Waterloo, on May 19th, losing 1-4.
Waterloo took the lead in the bottom of the first.
In the third inning, Belleville scored their only run. “We couldn’t put anything together after that. After an out, Brianna Halverson hit a hard one up the middle, then stole 2nd. Our next batter struck out. Ryley then hit one over the 3rd baseman’s head and Bri scored from 2nd. Cassidy walked to have two runners on, but that was all we could muster,” said Wunschel. “Their pitcher handled us quite easily as we had no energy. We batted 1-2-3 in four innings, batted four in two other innings. Doesn’t make for anything good to happen. We had three straight long balls in the first inning that they were able to catch, and from there we didn’t have much on the hits.”
Cassidy Heller took the loss on the mound, giving up eight hits and three earned runs of the four scored. Heller struck out five and walked one.
Making the five hits for Belleville were Ryley Helwig, Alli Kowalski, Miranda O’Rourke, Tara Hanna and Brianna Halverson.
The Wildcats finish 5-11 in the Capitol South, and are 7-15 overall. They host Monticello on May 23rd in their last non-conference game, and Cambridge on May 24th for the first regional game of the state tournament. A win would having them playing Marshall (#1 seed) on May 25th. Belleville is the #8 seed.