In what will undoubtedly be the most dramatic WIAA championship softball game for a long time, Kimberly outlasted defending champion Westosha Central 6-5 in 15 innings in a game that took three hours and forty five minutes.
In the the top of the 15th inning Kimberly’s Carleigh Johnson hit an Alyssa Hrncar offering over the fence in leftfield.
But it wasn’t over. The Falcons’ got out of the rest of the 15th unscathed and needed but one to tie and two to win their second title in a row. Liz Fonk grounded out to first and things may have looked bleak for Westosha. But freshman Kira Mickelson singled to left giving the Falcons life. When Megan Kleist hit Haley Jester with a pitch the Falcons had the tying run at second and the game winner at first. Things were really getting tense for everyone at the stadium by that time.
With one out, Co-Head coaches Connie and Tom Lampe chose to have freshman pitcher and leadoff batter Hrncar bunt the runners up and give Taylor Bergles a chance to win the the game. Surely the Papermakers would not walk Bergles to get to arguably the state’s most feared and dangerous hitter, Kayla Konwent who was 5x5 and had been intentionally walked three times in the game. Bergles and Kleist battled it out and in the end Bergles drew an unintentional base on balls to load the bases and set the stage for many a thrill.
In stepped the sophomore phenom. Konwent settled in as did Kleist. Kliest jammed the righthander just enough to create a short flair over the shortstop area, one that shortstop Lindsey Randerson who had just been inserted at shortstop just snared to end the most classic game in state tournament history.
There were 553 pitches thrown in all. There were eight errors, four by each team. Each team had a player with two errors.
The Papermakers scored three times in the first and to many it seemed like they were off to the races. Not to be however. The Falcons settled down and scored single runs in the third and fourth and two in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. Kimberly tied it in the sixth. Nobody scored until the ninth when Kimberly plated a run in the top half when Summer Zachow singled to center. Madi Surprise moved Zachow up with a sacrifice bunt and Jenna Smarzinski singled through the left side chasing Zachow home with the lead run.
Kleist fanned Julia Jester and got Hrncar to ground out to shortstop. Things looked bleak for the Falcons at that point but Bergles came up with a single past third and moved to second on a passed ball. Konwent then laced a Kleist offering to right for an rbi triple tying the game. With her standing at third Kleist coaxed a pop up to third out of Larkin Langston.
The Falcons stranded 25 runners on base and were just 9-39 with runners in scoring position.
Abby Menting had four hits for the Papermakers while Kleist added three. Konwent went 5x6 and was intentionally walked three times. Kleist went the distance, allowing 18 hits, fanning 15 and walking five. Hrncar also went the distance, allowing 15 hits, fanned a dozen and walked three.
It is Kimberly’s seventh state championship and puts them second most among all WIAA member schools. The Papermakers are 7-0 in championship games.
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