Stranding runners not a good recipe

Clutch hitting is hard to come by as pleasant weather for Grafton; Port gets bats going but loses

GRAFTON’S KIRSTEN KRAUSE pitched two solid games against Whitefish Bay on Monday but the Black Hawks couldn’t pull either one out. Photo by Sam Arendt
By 
MITCH MAERSCH
Ozaukee Press staff

The Grafton High School softball team has recently been an embodiment of the cliche of timing is everything.

Unfortunately for the Black Hawks, their timing is just a bit off.

The Hawks dropped a doubleheader against Homestead on Friday, 1-0, 2-1, and against Whitefish Bay on Monday, 5-3, 6-3.

“We’ve got to figure out how to get some timely hits when we have people on base,” coach Ken Hunt said.

Both games with Homestead were scheduled for five innings instead of the usual seven due to darkness. In the first, Kirsten Krause allowed three hits and one unearned run while walking one and whiffing five.

The second game went into extra innings tied at 1-1. Krause went 5-2/3 innings, allowing nine hits, two runs (one earned) while walking one and whiffing nine.

The Hawks scored their run in the first inning. Jordyn Case got hit by a pitch and stole second, and Kirstyn Case singled her home.

On Monday, Krause pitched both games again. This time, light allowed seven-inning contests. Only one game was scheduled with the second slated for Wednesday, but coaches looked at the weather forecast and decided to play two in dryer conditions.

In the second game, she allowed six runs (two earned) in six innings, walking one and whiffing five.

The Hawks scored two runs in the first inning and one in the fourth.

Krause went 2-for-3 with a double and scored a run, and Ellie Grisar was 2-for-4 with a triple, one RBI and one run scored. Jordyn and Kirstyn Case and Abby Caputa each had a hit. Kirstyn Case and Caputa each had an RBI.

In the opener, the Hawks scored three runs in the sixth inning. The Blue Dukes scored two in the second and three in the fifth.

“We had runners on second and third a couple of times and weren’t able to get people in,” Hunt said.

“Then we decided we had a case of the errors tonight as well. When we’re only scoring a few runs, we can’t give up freebies.”

The Hawks’ second-best pitcher Sara Paschke, who was thrust into the starting role last year when Krause and another pitcher was hurt, missed the last four games with a leg injury and may be out for the season, Hunt said.

The Hawks, 4-7 in the North Shore Conference and overall, were scheduled to play at Nicolet on Tuesday, host Cedarburg at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, West Bend West at noon Saturday, play at Hartford on

Monday and host Slinger at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 14. If the weather holds, they would play nine games in a 12-day stretch to end the regular season.

Port wins the hits war, loses on runs

If hits were runs, Port Washington would have its second victory of the season already.

The Pirates pounded out 10 hits at home on Monday to Cedarburg’s five but still lost on the scoreboard, 9-3.

A Hope Christiansen RBI single gave the Pirates the lead in the second inning, but the Bulldogs took advantage of three errors to score four runs in the third.

Kate Cavanaugh pitched 6-1/3 innings for Port, allowing nine runs on five hits, whiffing two.

Morgan Stone had three hits and Tess Egerer had two.

On April 30, Port lost to Whitefish Bay, 23-9. Last Friday, they lost at Nicolet, 10-8. Ashley Zygowski had three hits and Egerer had two.

Port was to play at Hartford on Tuesday, host Homestead on Wednesday and Slinger on Thursday, play in a Sheboygan South invite on Friday and Saturday, at West Bend West on Monday, at West Bend

East on Tuesday and host Grafton at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Cedar Grove-Belgium remains winless

Cedar Grove-Belgium is still seeking its first victory after dropping a doubleheader at Mishicot last week, 19-0 and 10-0.

Coach Scott Soerens said Maria Dries pitched well but his team’s defense made too many errors. Dries went the distance in the first game and pitched two innings of the next.

The young Rockets, Soerens said, are still trying to put a full game together.

“Either it’s errors or it’s not hitting,” he said.

But Soerens said he can see the development of his players.

“Even when a girl makes one error and makes the rest of the plays, that’s better than the last game where she made four errors,” he said.

The Rockets are scheduled to host Howards Grove at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, play at Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah on Friday, host Hilbert/Stockbridge for a doubleheader at 4 p.m. Monday and host Random Lake at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

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Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

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