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Boyceville softball opens with pair of wins over Lakeland teams

BOYCEVILLE — The Boyceville Softball team opened its 2015 season last week with a pair of home wins over Lakeland Conference foes.

In a high-scoring affair, the Lady Bulldogs outscored the Comets of Cameron, 17-12, Monday, March 30 to kick off their 2015 campaign with a win at Andy Pafko Memorial Park.

Three days later, Boyceville followed that up with a 5-4 extra innings home triumph over St. Croix Falls for a quick 2-0 start to the season.

St. Croix Falls

It appeared early as if Boyceville was headed for another big offensive output when St. Croix Falls came to town Thursday, April 2.

After scoring 17 runs in their first contest, a win over Cameron, the Bulldogs plated four runs against the Saints in the bottom half of the first inning.

Lexi Peterson drew a walk to open the Boyceville first and then moved to second when Peyton Hellmann reached first. Two batters later, senior Rachel Anderson belted a one-out double that sent both Peterson and Hellmann home. Brooklynn Blaser then drew a walk. Junior Maddy Bygd followed with the Bulldogs second double of the inning to drive in both Anderson and Blaser to make the score four to zip.

Strong pitching and solid defense, however, quickly became hallmarks of the game allowing Boyceville to hold its 4-0 advantage through the conclusion of the fifth frame.

But in the sixth inning, St. Croix Falls broke through for three runs and then added another in the top of the seventh to knot the contest at four aside.

All four of St. Croix Falls runs were scored without the aid of a hit. The Saints took advantage of five Boyceville errors and some passed balls to force extra innings.

Katie Kegen, who went the distance for Boyceville on the mound, then took the game into her own hands. The junior hurler sat the Saints down in order in the top of the eighth and scored the winning run on a St. Croix Falls error in the bottom half of the inning to give Boyceville a 5-4 win.

Kegen’s game-winner assured her a second straight win. She went a strong eight innings and surrendered just one hit and one walk with five strikeouts.

Her Saints’ counterpart, Katie Kopp, also had a solid performance on the mound, scattering five hits to finish with just four walks and seven strikeouts.

Rachel Anderson finished with two of Boyceville’s five hits including that double while Maddy Bygd (double), Madysn Riek and Katie Kegen each had a hit.

Sam Mackenburg had St. Croix Falls’ only hit, a third-inning single.

Cameron

Runs were aplenty when Boyceville welcomed Cameron for the season opener March 31.

The team combined for 29 runs, 22 walks  and 18 hits in an offensive-friendly softball showdown at Pafko Memorial Park.

The Bulldogs were able to prevail in the slugfest 17-12 as they collected 17 runs and 11 hits to help  Katie Kegen get the pitching win.

The Comets put a single run on the board in the first inning when their lead-off hitter reached on an error and scored on a passed ball.

The Bulldogs would get the equalizer in their half of the inning. Brooklynn Blaser earned a walk and came around to score on a passed ball.

Cameron would take another one-run lead in the top of the second only to see Boyceville tie it again in the bottom half after Peyton Hellmann doubled and scored.

Without the aid of a single hit, Cameron took advantage of a pair of walks and several errors – the Bulldogs committed seven in the game – to plate six runs and take a 8-2 lead in the third.

But once again, Boyceville’s offense answered taking back four runs in the bottom half of the third frame.

Madyson Riek reached on an error to start the Boyceville third. Jenna Beyrer and Marki Lagerstrom drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Peyton Hellmann then stepped to the plate and delivered her second hit in as many at bats to drive in a pair. Lexi Peterson followed with a two-run single to pull the Bulldogs to within two at 8-6.

Boyceville would take its first lead, one it would not relinquish, in the very next inning.

After holding Cameron scoreless in the top of the fourth, Boyceville collected four hits that lead to five runs and a 11-8 advantage. Peyton Hellmann, who picked up her third straight hit of the game, Maddy Bygd, Madysn Riek and Lexi Peterson all singled and drove in runs.

Cameron’s bats, however, stayed active as it collected five hits over the final three innings that produced single runs in the fifth and seventh innings and a pair of tallies in the sixth.

Boyceville scored three times in the fifth and sixth innings as Madysn Riek sparked each with one-out doubles.

Riek finished 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and four runs scored while Hellmann and Peterson both finished 3-for-4. Hellmann also tallied five Runs Batted In (RBI).

On the mound, Kegen gave up seven hits and an equal number of walks, 12 runs and had three strikeouts.

After the Easter break, Boyceville opened a busy week of conference games with a Tuesday, April 7 contest at rival Glenwood City followed by two more road contests at Plum City on Thursday, April 9 and the following day (April 10) at St. Croix Central. Boyceville will then return home to host Colfax on Monday, April 13 before traveling to Pepin  and Mondovi on April 14 and 16 respectively.