After a first round bye in the Division 5 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls Softball Tournament Regionals the No. 6 seed Butternut/Mercer Pioneers traveled to Tony on May 21 to take on No. 3 seed Flambeau. The Pioneers nearly pulled off a road win upset but fell just short in a 9-8 extra innings loss to end a great season for the team.
“Hats off to Flambeau for battling back tonight,” said Butternut/Mercer Coach Glen Wegner. “We played our most complete game tonight and really made them earn it. We definitely had some chances but just came up a bit short. We are really proud of the effort from everyone.”
The game started with the Pioneers striking first with walks by Jersey Polencheck and Josie Wegner who both stole bases to get into scoring position. With two outs, a single from Anya Bandenburg batted in two runs. Flambeau answered with one run of their own in the bottom of the frame to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Pioneer offense was back in the second with a leadoff double by Kaylee Schloer, followed by a walk to Izzy Pryzbylski. Successive singles from Jersey Polencheck, Jenny Klopatek and Lizzie Pritzl brough 4 runs to extend the lead to 6-1. Flambeau cut the lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the third inning and neither team scored in the fourth and fifth innings with spectacular defense plays on both sides, according to Wegner.
Butternut/Mercer scored an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning with a Jenny Klopatek double and an RBI single from Josie Wegner. Flambeau followed with two runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut the Pioneers lead to 7-4.
The Pioneers stranded a runner in scoring position in the top of the seventh. Flambeau tied the game up with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
"We almost had them right there but a high shallow fly ball got pushed hard by the wind and landed just out of the reach of our center fielder,” Wegner said. “It was a great effort but she just couldn't quite get to it. It was a good job staying composed to get out of that inning."
With the tie game now into an extra inning, Jersey Polencheck ripped a leadoff double and scored off a Lizzie Pritzl RBI single to give the Pioneers a 1 run lead. Flambeau fought back with the top of their lineup producing a leadoff triple followed by back to back hits and a sacrifice fly to win the contest 9-8 in a hard fought game.
Jersey Polencheck went the distance on the mound for Butternut Mercer, as did Anna Hughes for Flambeau.
Flambeau will now go on to face No. 2 seed Mellen. Mellen opened the regionals with an 18-0 win in three innings over No. 7 Bruce.
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