The Fastpitch Chronicle

Westosha Central used solid defense at key moments and a two-out three run rally to defeat Fort Atkinson 5-1 in the Burlington Sectional semi-final. Alyssa Hrncar went the distance, allowing 4 hits and one run while striking out 7. "Alyssa did a great job of using the whole zone. She move the ball around and changed speeds which kept the off balance." (co-head coach Tom Lampe) The Falcons opened the scoring in the first when Kayla Kerkman singled, moved to second on an errant pick off and reached third on Olivia Klean's sacrifice. She scored moments later on a Kira Mickelson single. Courtesy runner Kendall Krumm later scored on another error. "We did a good job of hustling tonight. That really showed on the second run in the first inning. We somewhat forced that one." (co-head coach Tom Lampe) The Blackhawks cut the lead in half in the 3rd. With one out Kat Brandl singled. She then scored on a double by Autumn Congdon. With Congdon on 3rd, Hrncar was able to strike out Morgan Dunkleberger and Becca Edwards made a sliding catch of Natalie Bosch's line drive to end the threat. In the 5th the Falcons added three more runs, all with two out. The rally began with a single by Klean, followed by a Mickelson double. Carrie Weis followed with an RBI single and later scored on Becca Edward's double. "That was nice to see, the two out rally. That is something that's been missing the last two weeks. Hopefully we've rediscovered it again." (co-head coach Tom Lampe) Hrncar then finished off the Blackhawks, allowing one more hit out of the last 7 batters; including a three-up-three-down 7th inning. "Overall we played a solid game. Hopefully this will be a springboard for the rest of the season." (co-head coach Tom Lampe) With the win the Falcons improved to 21-5. They will face the winner of the Wilmot-Janesville Craig game in Burlington on Thursday at 4:30.