Somerset softball bounces back after loss to New Richmond

• Justice Rondeau

Somerset catcher Justice Rondeau fires the ball to first base to complete a double play against New Richmond.

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Last Tuesday’s loss to New Richmond was discouraging for the Somerset softball team.

The Spartan senior captains weren’t going to let this loss do further damage. Following a pep talk from the captains, the Spartans bounced back with an 8-7 win in 10 innings at Amery last Thursday.

Spartan coach Cory Lindenberg said senior captains Carley Seibel and Bethany Starry took charge in the team discussion following last Tuesday’s 10-1 loss to New Richmond.

“Beth and Carley have been such good leaders. After the game they read the girls the riot act. They said ‘that’s not who we are,’” Lindenberg said.

That spurred the Spartans to their 8-7 win at Amery. The Spartans needed to keep scrapping against the Warriors, who were hungrily seeking their first win of the season.

The Spartans started the game with two runs in the first inning, but Amery struck right back, getting a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning. From there the teams seemed intent on swapping runs. The Spartans scored twice in the third, but Amery answered back with three runs in the bottom of the inning. The Spartans took a 6-5 lead with two runs in the fifth inning and extended the lead with two runs in the sixth.

Amery showed some fight, scoring twice in the sixth inning, then getting the tying run in the seventh inning. The score remained 7-7 until the Spartan captains came to bat in the tenth inning.

With two outs Starry doubled down the rightfield line on a 2-2 pitch. Seibel batted next, rocking a double on a 1-2 pitch to score Starry.

“It was great to see the seniors step up,” Lindenberg said.

Amery still had to bat in the bottom of the tenth, but Starry put them away 1-2-3, just as she’d done in the eighth and ninth innings.

The Spartans did a good job of generating scoring chances in the game. They produced 12 hits. Junior Sadie Gilbertson was the most reliable Spartan at bringing home baserunners, with a pair of RBI singles. Seibel and Megan Starry also had two-hit games for the Spartans.

The win gave the Spartans a 3-2 record in Middle Border Conference games, leaving them tied with New Richmond for fourth place in the conference standings. The loss to New Richmond last Tuesday was doubly painful for the Spartans because it knocked them from the ranks of contenders in the MBC standings.

The Spartans couldn’t get enough baserunners against New Richmond to generate any threats. Lindenberg said New Richmond pitcher Ashley Langer excelled at pitching on the inside edge of the strike zone, frequently jamming the Spartan hitters. Somerset was limited to three hits and two walks in the game.

Somerset got its run in the fifth inning. Justice Rondeau led off with a single and was sacrificed to second. Gilbertson drove her home with a single. The Spartans were still in the game at that point, trailing 4-1.

Everything crashed in on the Spartans in the top of the seventh inning. With a combination of hits and Somerset errors, New Richmond was able to add six insurance runs.

“Anything that could go wrong did go wrong,” Lindenberg said of the seventh inning.

The Spartans are hitting one of their most intense stretches in their schedule with games on five of the next six school days. That stretch begins at Durand on Thursday, before playing at home on Friday against Osceola. Next week begins with a road trip to Prescott on Monday. The Spartans play at home next Tuesday against Ellsworth. On Thursday, May 3, the Spartans get their chance to avenge the loss to New Richmond on the Tigers’ high school field.

Tags: sports, somerset, spartans, softball, prep