Braves sweep Maroons
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GLADSTONE -- The Gladstone softball team overwhelmed the Menominee Maroons here Monday, taking both games of a doubleheader in Great Northern Conference action.
The Braves won the nightcap 10-0 in five innings.
"We've been working on our hitting all season long," Braves' coach Darin Hunter said. "The girls have been working really hard. It's been showing in the at-bats with some good, quality at-bats. Even if we're hitting to somebody, we're squaring them up and driving them hard. We told the girls to come out strong this week and to set the pace. Hopefully this game will show that."
Gladstone (17-1) sealed the game in the bottom of the fourth. Leading 3-0, Maddie Ahlgren scored on a deep triple to rightfield by Morgan Letteriello. A sacrifice fly by Natalie Hansen then scored Letterielo. Andie Balenger was up next and smashed a solo homer. After a walk, Taylor Trudeau homered to plate two more. Taelor Zeise drove in another to increase Gladstone's advantage to 9-0.
"In the second game, Gladstone just came out, barrelled up the ball and hit it," Maroons' coach Jim Berger said.
"There's not much we can do there."
Despite a few hits, the Maroons were unable to make anything happen in the top of the first.
Jenna Tardiff hit a solo homer in the bottom half to give the Braves the early lead.
Gladstone added two more runs in the third off of a RBI single by Trudeau and a deep RBI double by Tardiff.
The Maroons (1-5) were stifled throughout.
Emma Laatsch took the loss for the Menominee. She allowed 12 hits, three walks and 11 runs while striking out one. Abby Leinonen finished with two hits and Kylie Wickstrom, Ashly Powell, Izzy Berger and Kendall Klatt all notched one hit.
Letteriello earned the win over five innings. She gave up five hits, no runs and struck out four. Tardiff led the offense with four hits, three runs and four RBIs. Trudeau collected two hits, two runs and three RBIs and Letteriello, Hansen, Balenger and Zeise all finished with one RBI.
"Our defense and shortstop definitely played well," Berger said. "She settled down after that first inning. Our outfielders all played well. They hit them to the corners .. there's not much we can do about that. Overall, they played pretty well."
Gladstone took the opener 6-1. The Braves pulled ahead early and stayed in front.
Sarah Barrette took the loss for Menominee.
Balenger earned the win over seven innings. She allowed three hits, one walk and struck out seven. Herioux finished with two RBIs and one hit.
"We were a little bit sluggish in the first game," Hunter said. "We had some solid shots, but Menominee was making some outstanding defensive plays against us."
Defense is something the Maroons have been focusing on.
"Defense is something we wanted to work on," Berger said. "We've only had four games until now. We've got a very young team. We've got four sophomores, three of which start. We were making some mistakes early on, but I think, defensively we've played one of our better games."
Gladstone visits Rapid River for a doubleheader today, while Menominee hosts Escanaba in a twinbill Wednesday.