Lady Bulldogs split conference softball games, finish the week 2-3
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GETTING DOWN low to field the softball was Boyceville’s freshman first baseman Hailey Hellendrung (#24) during the Bulldog’s game in Elk Mound May 13. Hellendrung recorded the unassisted out as she stepped on first base after cleaning fielding the ball. Senior Mya Lagerstrom can be seen backing Hellendrung up.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
Boyceville’s softball team blasted Spring Valley 14-2 on the Bulldogs’ home field for their third Dunn-St. Croix Conference win May 10, then stayed home and dropped a non-conference game to Grantsburg 11-7 the next day. A trip to Elk Mound Friday, May 14 resulted in a close 7-5 loss to the Mounders. They ended their busy week at the Shell Lake Invite this past Saturday where they split a pair of one-run games, losing to Hurley, 11-10, and beating the fellow Bulldogs of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser 6-5.
Now 3-3 in the D-SC and 4-6 overall, Boyceville hosted Mondovi at TCE field Monday, May 17 before hitting the road for games at Unity on Thursday and in Durand on Friday. The Bulldogs return home to welcome rival Glenwood City next Monday, May 24 only to go back on the road for a game in Elmwood on Tuesday.
Spring Valley
After spotting the Cardinals a run in the top of the first, Boyceville responded by scoring early and often, starting with four runs in the bottom of the inning. The Bulldogs tacked on five more in the second, another in the third and made sure the game ended in five innings with four more in the fourth.
Libby Bygd led the Bulldog offense with a 2-for-2 performance at the plate, including a double and four RBIs. Hannah Dunn blasted a double and brought in a pair of runs, Kady Grambo slammed her own two bagger, and Harper Olson picked up an RBI with one hit.
Ella Holden earned the win, throwing a three hitter with five strikeouts while allowing three hits and two free passes.
“Spring Valley has been struggling this season,” Bulldog coach Jamie Olson said. “But we have been really hitting the ball well and we made the most of it with a few extra base hits to score runs,” he added.
Grantsburg
The Pirates were a hitting machine as they tagged Holden for 15 hits in the contest. They led 4-0 before the Bulldogs knotted it up with a run in the second and three in the third.
Grantsburg continued to bang the ball and tallied three runs in the fourth, a single one in the fifth and put the game away with a trio of runs in the sixth.
Boyceville managed to get single runs in the fifth and sixth innings but it wasn’t enough to complete a comeback.
Dunn went 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles and scored twice, Holden was 2-for-2 with a home run and scored twice, Bygd added a hit with a run scored and a RBI, and Olivia Ponath brought a run in with one hit.
Holden struck out three Pirates and did not walk anybody in the loss.
Elk Mound
BIG BAT — Junior Libby Bygd smacked the softball for a hit during the Bulldogs’ game in Elk Mound last Thursday, May 13. Bygd finished with a pair of hits and two runs scored in Boyceville’s 7-5 loss to the Mounders. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
The Mounders have been contenders for the conference title in the past several years and are looking to finish near the top again. They scored two runs in the first inning, but Mya Lagerstrom scored in the third inning for Boyceville and Bygd and Holden both came home in the third on Holden’s blast over the fence for a 3-2 lead.
The lead didn’t last long however, as the Mounders took advantage of some costly throwing errors on the Bulldogs’ part along with a few hits to pull ahead 6-3 after four innings.
Boyceville continued to battle and came within a run when Ponath and Bygd crossed home plate in the fifth, but a single run in the bottom of the inning was enough insurance for the Mounders and they shut the Bulldogs down in their final at bat.
“Elk Mound has always been a tough team for us to play against,” Bulldog senior Kady Grambo said. “We played really well but had one bad inning and we just couldn’t get back on track,” she added.
Lagerstrom batted 2-for-3 and scored a run, Bygd was 2-for-4 and came home twice, and Ponath and Holden both smacked one hit.
Holden allowed just three hits in the game with four free passes and six Ks. Boyceville outhit the Mounders 6-3 but had two errors in the field.
Shell Lake Invite
The Boyceville softball team took advantage of a beautiful sunny day and played a pair of games in Shell Lake May 15.
After losing 11-10 against Hurley, the Bulldogs came out on the positive end of another one run game, 6-5 against Chetek-Weyerhaeuser.
Boyceville held an 8-3 lead against Hurley until the bottom of the sixth inning but the Midgets used four hits and a few walks to score five runs to knot it up at 8-8.
Boyceville went ahead 10-8 in the top of the seventh when Mya Lagerstrom brought in both runs on a base hit. They couldn’t hang on however, as Hurley scored three times in the bottom of the inning to secure the win.
Olson batted 3-for-3 while Dunn, Lagerstrom, and Grambow all had two hits. Bygd knocked in three runs on a triple in the fourth inning.
Against Chetek-Weyerhaeuser, Boyceville fell behind 2-1 but scored four times in the fourth for a 5-2 advantage. They added one more run in the fifth then had to hold on for the win after giving up a run to C-W in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings.
Dunn had a pair of hits for the offense while Ponath collected two RBIs with a single in the fourth inning.