Grafton bats get silenced

Days after plating 16 runs in an opening playoff victory blowout, Grafton High School’s softball team ran into a top pitcher that quieted the Black Hawks’ bats.

Grafton lost at Kewaskum, 4-0, on May 27, Macy Sabish, who is 10-3 on the season, threw a one-hitter.

“We faced a really strong pitcher. She had a good fastball, changup, rise ball. She kept us off balance,” Grafton coach Mike Bergmann said.

Ava Eernisse got the Hawks’ only hit. They drew a couple of walks and reached on a couple of errors but didn’t threaten to score.

Khiah King tried to match Sabish and for six innings came close. But the Indians scored three runs in the first inning, partly on a unique play.

After a lefty hit a leadoff double down the left-field line, the next batter pounded the ball into the turf, causing a high bounce. Third-baseman Riley Bergmann waited for it and fired to first, but it was too late. In the meantime, the runner scored.

After a couple other batters, “we blink and we’re down 3-0,” coach Bergmann said.

“The rest of the way we played them tight. The other six innings was a 1-nothing game. If it’s 1-nothing the whole time it’s a little bit of a different story.”

King, he said, threw well.

“She pitched great. She was around the zone the whole time,” Bergmann said.

On defense, the Hawks made one or two errors, but mostly “balls that were in play we made plays on,” he said.

The No. 7-seeded Hawks finished 8-14 overall. No. 2 Kewaskum beat No. 6 Campbellsport, 3-0, last Thursday and faces No. 1 Waupun in a sectional semifinal.

The Hawks were 3-12 in the North Shore Conference, ninth of 10 teams. In a span of six days, Grafton had three conference games late in the season cancelled due to weather without time to make them up, including contests against West Bend East and rivals Port Washington and Cedarburg.

The Hawks were 5-2 outside the NSC.

“We were very successful with our nonconference games,” Bergmann said. “We don’t see a lot of other Division 2 schools in the conference. It’s just us and Port. So I always try to find those.”

It was tougher than usual for Bergmann to see this season come to a close since his daughter Riley is a senior and he has coached her and the other five seniors since elementary school. The families have turned into friends.

“I’ve known the girls forever. We spent countless hours at tournaments and bonfires,” he said. “That was the hardest part for me on Tuesday, seeing those six play for the last time. It meant a lot to me as a team and personally. They left a lasting impact on the program.”