MADISON, Wis. — Once it is state tournament time, a single hit could mean the difference between a championship title or an end to your season.
No squad understands that better than the Brodhead softball team, which won last season’s WIAA Division 3 state championship off Jerrica Schwartz’s walk-off RBI double in the eighth inning.
And the Cardinals’ run at repeating the title this year effectively ended off Prescott’s Megan Richter’s three-run double into the left-center field gap in the top of the seventh inning of the D-3 state semifinals.
Prescott held on to knock Brodhead out of the tournament with a 4-1 win on a sunny and warm Friday at Goodman Complex.
“We didn’t beat ourselves,” head coach Steve Krupke said. “Prescott is a really good team and well-coached. We put the ball in play, we got our bunts down. They just strung an inning together and we didn’t.”
With the score tied at 1-all, Jeanne Rohl popped out to begin the top of the seventh. Kelsey Sterud was hit by a pitch from Brodhead starter Ava Risum in the next at-bat and Rory Zuehlsdorf’s knocked a single into left, where an error on the fielder allowed Sterud to advance to third.
Leah French was intentionally walked to load the bases and Richter cleared them with her hard-hit double into the outfield.
“Prescott’s lineup had some of the better swings I’ve seen,” Krupke said.
“They didn’t have any easy outs. Their No. 2 and No. 3 hitters (Zuehlsdorf and French) were really good. Ava did a heck of a job keeping them off balance, but they were really good. You watch them warm up, they’re really athletic.”
Brodhead made a strong comeback try in the bottom half with Tatum Ceslok starting the frame with a walk. She moved to second on Karlie Krumwiede’s groundout to first, Tessa Kloepping drew a walk and Sophia Leitzen knocked a single up the middle to load the bases.
But Prescott starter Ella Stewart struck out Jaelyn Hilliard and coaxed Risum into a fly out to left to advance her squad to the championship game.
Brodhead worked counts, lasered the ball and produced strong at-bats throughout the game on Stewart, who allowed an earned run on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts, but could just never find the big hit to jump ahead.
“I told the kids out here, and sometimes kids might think it’s cliche, but (our kids) did everything right,” Krupke said. “(Our kids) showed up ready to play. They deserved it. We had a couple hard hit balls at people, taking nothing away from Prescott.”
Risum finished the complete-game effort with four earned runs on nine hits with two walks and nine strikeouts.
Prescott had taken an early 1-0 lead in the second after Cadyn Hillebrand walked with no outs, advanced to second on a sac bunt and scored an out later on Grace Ptacek’s single into center.
Brodhead had runners on in every inning except the fifth. Stewart did a good job limiting scoring opportunities early on as Leitzen had a leadoff single in the first and Allie Dahl singled in the second, and both runners were moved to second on sac bunts before being left on.
“We were making really good contact, unfortunately, it was right to them,” Leitzen said. “It’s a very humbling game sometimes. If a couple more of ours drop, it’s a different story, and this ends a little differently.”
Hilliard worked a two-out walk in the third, and Brodhead finally struck in the fourth.
Leah Rear hit a leadoff bloop single into right field and moved to second an out later on Schwartz’s groundout to first. Ceslok then knocked an RBI single down the right-field line to tie it up at one.
“You can hit through our whole lineup,” Leitzen said. “So, knowing that if someone’s on, we can trust anybody to hit her in. And today was Tatum. She’s been very good. She’s improved so much from the beginning of the year and she’s one of the hardest workers I know.”
But Stewart got a fly out to preserve the lead and stranded Risum in the sixth after her leadoff single.
“This is a really special group of people,” Leitzen said. “As players obviously, but as humans too. We had two outs, bases loaded, I had full faith. I have all the trust in the world in these girls. It came down to (the fact that) they had timely hits and we didn’t. But we didn’t give up, and we never would.”
The Cardinals finish the season 19-5, and Leitzen was a part of a special senior class alongside Kloepping, Hilliard and Schwartz that went 81-15 in its four seasons. The run included two regional and sectional titles along with the program’s second state championship.
“I don’t know if this is official, but I think they’re the winningest group,” Krupke said. “And that’s saying a lot considering that we’ve accomplished a lot over the years. If you win a state title that says a lot and then to go back again, it’s huge.”
But Leitzen added that the program has plenty of stout players to continue the high level of success.
“With Ava, you’re gonna be in good hands no matter what. When she’s in the circle, she takes control of the game. Her alone, she’ll be at least half of your outs with her strikeouts. So, if you can get some people behind her to just take care of the other ones, there’s no worries there.
“And you still have Leah, Allie and Tatum, the main core is back, so they’ll be okay.”
• BOXSCORE:
PRESCOTT 4, BRODHEAD 1
Pres 010 000 3 — 4 9 0
Brod 000 100 0 — 1 6 1
PRESCOTT (ab-r-h-rbi) — Sterud, cf, 3-1-1-0, Zuehlsdorf, 1b, 4-1-3-0, French, c, 3-0-1-0, Blomquist, pr, 0-1-0-0, Richter, 2b, 4-0-1-3, Hillebrand, ss, 3-1-1-0, Stewart, p, 2-0-0-0, Roth, dp, 3-0-1-0, Ptacek, lf, 3-0-1-1, Rohl, 3b, 3-0-0-0. Totals: 28-4-9-4.
BRODHEAD (ab-r-h-rbi) — Leitzen, ss, 4-0-2-0, Hilliard, cf, 2-0-0-0, Risum, p, 4-0-1-0, Rear, 3b, 3-1-1-0, Dahl, 3b, 3-0-1-0, Schwartz, c, 2-0-0-0, Ceslok, 1b, 2-0-1-1, Wahler, pr, 0-0-0-0, Steinke, lf, 2-0-0-0, Krumwiede, pg, 1-0-0-0, Kloepping, rf, 2-0-0-0. Totals: 25-1-6-1.
E: Steinke. LOB: Prescott 8, Brodhead 8. 2B: French, Richter. 3B: Zuehlsdorf. HBP: Sterud.
Pitching: Pres, Stewart (W) 7.0-6-1-1-3-4. Brod, Risum (W) 7.0-9-4-4-2-9.
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