Janesville Craig has made a habit out of outslugging its opponents lately with plenty of doubles and home runs to go around. On Wednesday night in Madison, they took a slightly different approach.
Make no mistake, the Cougars (7-3 overall, 4-1 Big Eight) still scored a lot of runs, beating Madison West 14-1 in five innings, but they did the job with eight singles, no extra-base hits and nine walks against Regent pitching.
It marked the fifth straight game in which Craig scored at least 10 runs, and not surprisingly, the Cougars have won all five.
Craig’s first breakout inning was the top of the third, in which the Cougars scored five runs. That inning started with Ava Schaffner reaching on an error and continuing to second base. She went to third on a passed ball, and Brynn Sikich brought her home with an RBI single. Sikich went 2 for 4 and finished with three RBI.
Then the walks started for West pitcher Amira Baldon. Her free pass to Mya Eichelt put runners at first and second, then she got her second out of the inning on a fielder’s choice at third.
The next three Craig hitters all reached on walks with Alex Hanson and Abbie Claas recording RBI by doing so with the bases loaded. Emily Kleinheinz came up after Claas and smashed a two-run single through the left side of the infield to make it 6-0 Craig.
The Cougars had another big inning in the top of the fifth, pushing eight runs across against West reliever Emily Wing-Gutierrez. Sikich had a two-run hit in the inning, and Eichelt and Ella Loveland produced runs with singles of their own.
That eight-run outburst put Craig up 14-1, and the Regents went down in order to Maddy Bennett in the bottom of the fifth to end the game early under the WIAA’s 10-run mercy rule.
Bennett threw all five innings for the Cougars to get the win, giving up one earned run on four hits and a walk. She struck out one West batter, and with her pitching to contact, the Craig defense did not commit an error.
Craig is scheduled to host a Big Eight game at the Janesville Youth Sports Complex at 4:30 p.m. Thursday against Verona.
JANESVILLE CRAIG 14, MADISON WEST 1 (5)
Craig 105 08 — 14 8 0
West 000 10 — 1 4 2
Leading hitters — Sikich (JC) 2x4, Loveland (JC) 2x4, Munsterteiger (MW) 2x2.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) — JC: Bennett W, 5-4-1-1-1-1. MW: Baldon L, 3-4-6-1-6-4; Wing-Guttierez 2-4-8-6-3-1.
Comments / 0