JANESVILLE — Beloit Turner knew it had the bats to compete with Janesville Parker in a nonconference softball game at the Youth Sports Complex on Monday night.
One bat in particular did a whole lot of damage for the Trojans.
Sophomore catcher Maddy Hoenig went 4 for 4 against the Vikings and drove in five runs, including a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning, to lift the Trojans to a 6-4 victory.
“She brought it all last year and continues to bring it every single game from behind the plate and at the plate,” Turner coach Brian Maxwell said. “She’s just so poised for being so young.”
Her day started with a fortuitous popped-up RBI single that should’ve been caught for an out behind first base. Kamdyn Davis scored from third on the play after leading off the game with a double.
Parker responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Kaelyn Minich. The Vikings scored three more in the second to grab the lead through two innings.
Delaney King started Parker’s second with a single and made it to third on a steal of second and a wild pitch.
With two down and King at third, Gentry Reed earned a base on balls and kept running. Turner tried to throw her out at second, which allowed King to score, and Reed was safe anyway.
Back-to-back RBI singles from pitcher Lilly Keller and shortstop Kenedi Pryne made it 4-1, Parker.
Davis started Turner’s half of the third with her second double of the game, and Sammi Schleis singled to put runners on the corners. Schleis swiped second with Hoenig at the plate, and Hoenig brought both her teammates home with a single that made it 4-3.
After a quiet fourth for both teams, Hoenig came up again in the fifth after Schleis drew a leadoff walk. She fouled off a pitch that put her behind the count 1-2 before she belted a delivery on the outside part of the plate the opposite way on a line over the right-center field fence to make it 5-4.
“After I fouled off the last one, I knew I was swinging big, so I had to make it good,” she said.
Two freshmen pitched in the game for the Trojans, Maddyn Saunders and Lauryn Wells. The latter came on to start the fourth inning and kept the Vikings off the board. Both got help from an airtight defense that did not commit an error.
“We’ve got young pitching, but we’ve got the bats and we got defense,” Maxwell said.
Parker threatened in the fourth and fifth innings by putting runners at second and third. Wells got a strikeout to end the inning in the fourth, but she had a little more work to do in the fifth after Addie Nelson and Donnavee Kong led off that inning with back-to-back singles.
A sacrifice bunt by King was the first out, then Wells struck out Grace Sensabaugh for the second and got Keara Erickson to ground into an inning-ending groundout.
“We have got to score more with the bats that we’ve got in this batting order,” Parker coach Bob Getka said. “We just didn’t get the key hit.”
Turner added an insurance run in the top of the seventh with Hoenig scoring on an RBI double from Emma Bue after Hoenig’s fourth hit of the day.
“We knew Parker was a good team, and we just had to come out and hit like we knew we could,” Hoenig said. “We were down, and I’m glad we came back and fought.”
Both teams were scheduled to play home conference games Tuesday, Parker against Madison East/La Follette at 5 p.m. and Turner against Clinton at the same time.
BELOIT TURNER 6, JANESVILLE PARKER 4
Turner 102 020 1 — 6 8 0
Parker 130 000 0 — 4 8 2
Leading hitters — Davis (BT) 2x4, Hoenig (BT) 4x4, Nelson (JP) 2x4, Kong (JP) 2x4. 2B — Davis (BT) 2, Bue (BT), Nelson (JP). HR — Hoenig (BT).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) — BT: Saunders 3-5-4-4-3-1; Wells W, 4-3-0-0-2-3. JP: Keller L, 7-8-6-6-3-6.
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