The Fastpitch Chronicle

The Poynette 16-U girls’ fastpitch team took part in the Baraboo Thunder Big Top Blowout over the weekend. After a couple of pool games, the club entered double elimination bracket play seeded 6 of 11 teams.

The first matchup was against the 11th seeded Wisconsin Twisters with an 8 a.m. start on Saturday. Poynette ended up losing a squeaker 6-5 on a couple of bounces that didn’t go their way. Kiley Wagner was in the circle for Poynette and took the loss. Leading hitters were Jordyn Mackey 3x4 and Wagner 2x3. Coach Mackey told them after the game that there wasn’t a team there that they couldn’t beat but also, if they weren’t ready to play, any team could beat them. The beauty of a double elimination is that ability to recover from one poor outing.

Poynette’s second game on Saturday was at 2 p.m. against Sun Prairie. Poynette would prevail 10-0 in 5 innings. Jordan Blochwitz was in the circle, giving up only 2 hits in the shutout victory. Leading hitters for Poynette were Mackey 4x4, Shelby Wheeler 3x4, Jenna Sandstrom 2x3 with a double and Amber Breuch 2x3. Blochwitz and Emily Cibulka also had doubles in that game.

Next up on Saturday at 5pm was the Platteville Hit Squad. Poynette would score four in the 1st, two in the 2nd, one in the third and put the game away with three runs in the 4th. They would end up winning 10-1. Blochwitz was again in the circle where she gave up only one  earned run on 2 hits, striking out four and walking none. Leading hitters were Mackey 2x2 and a walk, Wheeler 3x3, Sandstrom 2x3 with a double, and Allison Gorman at 2x2 and a HBP.

Poynette’s fourth game on Saturday was played under the lights at Pierce Park and started at 8:40 p.m. Their foe in this contest was the Waukesha Crush. Poynette once again scored early and often to build a 7-2 lead by the end of the 4th.  Those runs would hold up as the final after 6 innings was 7-2. Blochwitz went to the circle for the third and final time of the day. She allowed just one earned run while striking out eight and walking two. Leading hitters were Mackey 3x3 and a walk, Wheeler 4x4 and only a homer short of a cycle, Blochwitz 2x3 and a walk and Cibulka 2x3. Coach Mackey said after the game “our players were ready to keep playing past midnight, and the only thing that stopped us was there was no one left at the park to play”.

Poynette would play Baraboo at 11a.m. on Sunday with the winner making it to the final three. Poynette would score all the runs it needed in the 1st. They scored three runs on five hits in the first inning. They would tack on one in the 3rd, three in the fourth and a game ending run in the 5th that made it 8-0. Blochwitz was in the circle once again, giving up no runs on two hits and one walk. She fanned five.  Leading hitters were Mackey 2x3, Wheeler 3x3 and a double, Kelsey Saager 2x3, Gorman 3x3 and Cibulka with a double.

Poynette would immediately play overall #1 seed X-plozion next starting at 12:30 at Pierce park. Poynette would strike first in the top half of the first on an automatic home run by Wheeler, while in the bottom of the first Wagner set down the first three batters in order. In the top of the second, Poynette would strike again, scoring four runs on fvie hits and knocking out the X-polzion’s starting pitcher from the game. Wagner was able to get out of a little trouble in the bottom of the 2nd with only giving up two runs. X-plozion had runners on 2nd and 3rd with only 1 out when a sharply hit grounder to Mackey at third allowed her to make a fake throw to 1st drawing the runner off the bag at three for the easy tag. Wagner then induced a grounder that Wheeler was able to tag an advancing runner to get out of the inning with no more damage. The score would remain 5-2 until the bottom of the 5th. X-plozion would take a 6-5 lead on a 3 run homer and would go on and tack on 3 more runs. The game was then called due to the expiring of the time limit. Coach Mackey said, “I take the blame for the 3 run homer. We should have intentionally walked their number four hitter in that situation”. Wagner battled a hot sun, while giving up nine earned runs and only walking 1 and striking out 1. Leading hitters were Wheeler 2x3 and a home run and Saager with a double.

Poynette ended up finishing 3rd and was presented a nice trophy and medals for all their hard work. Poynette would like to thank the Baraboo Thunder for their hard work in putting together a great event.

The upcoming weekend will find the team taking part at home in Poynette at the Summer Fastpitch Jamboree where they will join 45 other teams in what has quickly become one of the state’s premier summer events. Games begin on Friday at 1:00 PM while Saturday’s action commences at 8 AM.