BELOIT—Beloit Memorial senior Allie Gustafson said that one of the toughest issues that comes with facing Milton ace Gwen Baker is the intimidation factor.
And who could blame the third baseman? After all, Baker, who will play at NCAA Division I Butler after graduating this spring, towers over practically every opposing batter at 6-foot-1.
That lengthy stride when the senior throws makes her already insanely quick fastball that has topped out at 65 mph feel like it’s flying by you all the faster. She does a nice job mixing in a riseball and drop ball while throwing in the occasional drop curve, screwball and changeup.
And while it was some strong work from Baker in the circle that helped fuel the top-seeded Red Hawks to a 10-0 win over the No. 9 Purple Knights in six innings during Thursday’s WIAA Division 1 Regional Championship, Beloit head coach Chad Davis came away proud with how his squad battled at the plate.
“They put the bat on the ball,” Davis said. “I’m not going to be upset with them at all about that. They took her deep on all of the counts, and I was happy we didn’t give her 21 strikeouts.”
The Knights (11-12) struck out nine times against Baker, a lot lower than some other opponents have racked up against her. The senior didn’t issue a walk and allowed four hits, all singles.
It looked like it could be a long night when Baker retired the first 10 batters before Jasmine Smith hit a one-out single in the fourth.
“You feel like you’re confident and you’re good to go but then you look up and you see her up there and it’s totally different,” said Gustafson, who had a single. “And once you get used to that, you start to see her ball move more.”
Beloit’s coaching staff did all they could to help its batters prepare for Thursday.
“Our mind frame going in against her was really good,” Davis said. “We got in the cages last night and moved the plate way up so that it was coming more at Gwen’s speed. I told them to go in the batter’s box with the batting cage mentality. Everything’s a strike. You could guarantee it was going to be right around the plate. So, you swing the bat.”
Brooklynne Hereford-Foster singled with one out and Amiyah Clark put runners on the corners an out later with her single but a groundout ended the top of the fifth.
An RBI single from Sophie Mezera made it 1-0 in the first and, after a scoreless second, Milton (22-2) poured on six runs in the third.
Baker started the frame with a single and an out later back-to-back one-run doubles from Ella Knoble and Kenzie Marquardt made it 3-0.
Two-straight errors from the Knights’ defense upped it to 5-0 and RBI singles from Jenna Benash and Lynden Briggs put it at 7-0.
“We had that one inning that we dread all year,” Davis said. “And, of course, it had to be this game. We haven’t done that. And the last two and a half weeks, we haven’t had many errors. They were either right out of our reach or just that little lack in one or two plays.”
Davis chose to pull freshman starter Rilynne Cleland after she tossed three innings and seven runs (three earned) on seven hits with a strikeout in favor of putting in senior Delayna Hyser.
“She questioned my move after she came out, but at that point I wanted all my seniors in,” he added. “I told her that it was nothing she did. It was that darn inning where we fell apart, and I didn’t see us at that point coming back. She’s got a great head on her shoulders and I’m very excited for the next three years for our battery with her and our freshman catcher Amiyah Clark.”
The Red Hawks scored singles runs in the last three innings, and Benash’s bloop single into center with the bases loaded in the sixth put the mercy rule into effect.
And while it didn’t end how they wanted it to, Gustafson is proud of all her and her senior teammates accomplished: helping a recently struggling program reach double-digit victories and win a regional playoff game for the first time since 2019.
“Beloit is just a really tight knit community, especially our school,” she added. “Softball was removed from our middle school programs, and we took a really big hit because we don’t have anywhere to pull from. Girls aren’t getting the inspiration to play or even want to play sports, really. But this group of girls really brought inspiration to our school and our teams.”
And the graduating Gustafson said she is confident the program is being left in good hands.
“The freshmen that have come in are super powerful, confident and bring a whole new energy to the team,” she said. “They have a want to build something. They want to win, which is something that we haven’t had for a while up until this year”
• LINESCORE:
MILTON 10, BELOIT MEMORIAL 0 (6)
BM 000 000 — 0 4 4
Milton 106 111 — 10 9 0
Leading hitters: BM, Smith 1x2; Hereford-Foster 1x2; Clark 1x2; Gustafson 1x3. Milton, Mezera 2x3, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Buttchen 1x4, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Marquardt 1x3, 2 Runs, 1 RBI.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): BM, Cleland 3.0-7-7-3-0-1, Hyser 2.0-2-3-1-3-2. Milton, Baker 6.0-4-0-0-0-9.
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