WADENA — If the weather was as hot as the Wolverine softball team’s bats to start the season, we’d all be in flip flops and Bermuda shorts. After scoring 13 runs in their past two games, WDC did one better, routing the Swanville Bulldogs 14-4 in non-conference softball Thursday Night.
The game was moved to Swanville because of a community event in Swanville, but the Wolverines were the home team since it was scheduled for WDC. Despite the change in venue, the Wolverines didn’t miss a beat.
After tight roping their way out of a jam in the top of the first that saw Swanville load the bases with two outs, the Wolverine bats came alive.
Montana Carsten led the game off with a swinging bunt single. She promptly stole second; a recurring theme in the current Wolverine winning streak. Jenna Dykhoff followed a strikeout with a hard single. Again, Dykhoff quickly found her way to second via the steal. A hit by pitch to Jamie Barthel loaded the bases and Haylee Dickey drove in the first run with a bases loaded walk. Madelyn Gallant wasted little time smacking the first pitch she saw over the second base bag to extend the lead to 3-0. Addie Carr pushed the lead to 4-0 when she reached on an error.
WDC again had to work out of a big jam in the top of the second when the Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out. After a batter interference call resulted in the second out, Carsten induced a weak pop out to end the threat.
“Defensively, we had big stops in the first and second inning to help our momentum,” noted Coach Jack. “In both those innings we left Swanville with the bases loaded.”
The Bulldogs proved tenacious, as they again put the pressure on in the top of the third. For the third straight inning, Swanville got runners on second and third with one out, thanks to a walk and a rare Wolverine error. This time, WDC could not leave the zero on the board. Swanville scored on a sac fly and a hard single. Again, Carsten got a pop out to end the inning.
Leading 4-2, the Wolverines put up their biggest inning of the season, scoring 8 runs to stretch the nail biter to a rout. Mercedes Schulz had two hits in the inning, including an RBI single.
Haylee Dickey and Montana Carsten cracked hard doubles, with Dickey picking up 1 RBI and Carsten knocking in 2. Jenna Dykhoff had an RBI single, while Hailey Kircher had an RBI walk.
Jada Dykhoff picked up a sac fly RBI and Ella Stroeing scored on a past ball. When the dust settled, the Wolverines lead 12-2 after 3.
After a scoreless fourth, Swanville closed the gap a little in the fifth thanks to a pair of run scoring singles. Carsten proved her mettle by striking out two straight to end the threat.
WDC closed the game out via the 10-run rule in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a walk to Schulz, and a hit by pitch to Dickey. Gallant followed with an RBI groundout to short, and the winning run scored when the Bulldog shortstop couldn’t cleanly field a hard-hit grounder by Carr.
“It was great to see our entire line-up contribute offensively in our win this afternoon,” said Coach Jack, “We had a couple of big innings in the first and third and we were able to jump to an early lead. The girls hit the ball hard with runners in scoring position.”
WDC slugged their way to 12 hits. Carsten led the way with 3, including a 2 run double. Carr, Schulz and Jenna Dykhoff all had a pair of hits. Gallant led the squad with 3 RBI, while Dickey and Carsten each had 2. WDC was “held” to seven steals, with a pair each from Carr, Carsten, and Jenna Dykhoff.
Carsten improved to 3-0 in the circle, she went five innings and game up four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and four walks.
WDC improved to 4-0 and 3-0 in the PRC.
