Story originally printed in the Tomah Journal or online at www.tomahjournal.com
Published - Sunday, April 06, 2008
Rough fourth inning sinks softball squad
The Tomah High School girls softball team began the season with 10 straight shutout innings.
The Timberwolves would like to forget inning number 11.
La Crosse Aquinas exploded for six runs in the top of the fourth inning en route to an 8-3 Mississippi Valley Conference victory over Tomah Tuesday at Gerke Field.
Tomah fell to 1-1 after shutting out Onalaska in its opener. The Timberwolves held Aquinas scoreless for the first three innings, but things came undone in the fourth.
After Aquinas loaded the bases with one out, Angie Schneider became the first player to score a run against Tomah in 2008 after Abby Heilman hit a single up the middle.
Erin Kelly then blasted a two-RBI double, and a fielder’s choice and an error generated three more runs for a 6-0 Blugolds’ lead.
Tomah got two of the runs back in the fourth. Michelle Luebke led off with a walk and scored on Brooke Von Haden’s one-out triple that sailed over the rightfielder’s head. Von Haden then scored on a Kasey Von Haden single.
Aquinas loaded the bases and didn’t score in the fifth, but a walk, an error and two singles produced two more runs in the eighth.
Tomah got another run in the seventh, when Kendra Bundy scored on an Ashley Kenworthy single.
Ali Van Havermaet, who pitched a no-hitter in Tomah’s opener at Onalaska, struggled with her control against Aquinas. She walked six and struck out one.
Jordan Martin struck out six and earned the complete-game victory for Aquinas, the defending MVC champion.
Tomah didn’t get its first hit until the third inning but wound up with eight hits. Baserunning undermined the Timberwolves, who had a runner caught stealing in the third, a runner gunned down trying to reach third after a throwing error in the sixth and a runner gunned down trying to stretch a single into a double in the seventh.
Eight of the nine Tomah starters got a base hit, and every one reached base at least once. Kenworthy got Tomah’s only stolen base.
The Timberwolves play their first non-conference game Saturday, when they travel to Marshfield in a makeup from March 25. A postponed March 29 doubleheader at Eau Claire hasn’t been rescheduled.
Tomah doesn’t play another home game until April 22, when Onalaska visits Gerke Field for a rematch. The Timberwolves play their final eight games at home this season.
All stories copyright 2006 Tomah Journal and other attributed sources.