The Fastpitch Chronicle

This one was a cat-fight from the get go. It started with a throwout by Maddie Bergum on Poynette's leadoff hitter Jordyn Mackey following a leadoff walk to open the game. Bergum's throw to Emily Mickelson erased Mackey on a steal attempt for the first time this season.

In the bottom of the first the Pumas dropped a ball at first that would have ended the inning but it allowed a run to score.

The Pumas were struggling with the slants and darts of L-Cat pitcher Emily Frey through the first three innings. Meanwhile Pumas' pitcher Allie Bredeson was holding off the cats from Lake Mills. In the fourth Lake Mills had runners at first and second with two outs and Mickelson at the plate. The senior shortstop who spent the entire 2014 summer playing with and for the Poynette 16-U team had laced a double in the first and had scored that run. The Pumas made a pitching change and brought in Jordan Blochwitz. "Allie was throwing well but it was the start of the third time through the order," said Poynette coach Bob Tomlinson.  I just felt a change would keep us out of trouble."

Blochwitz got Mickelson to ground into a 6-U fielder's choice to end that threat. 

In the Poynette fourth the Pumas loaded them but failed to score leaving the game at 1-0 in favor of the L-Cats.

In the Poynette fifth, Mackey started things off with a slap single and when Shelby Wheeler's sacrifice bunt was misplayed there stood Pumas at one and two with no outs. Brooke Dredske then was hit by a pitch on a 1-2 count to load the bases for the second inning in row. That's where the roof caved in on Frey and the L-Cats. Riley Barnharst worked the count and drew a base-on-balls, sending Mackey home and knotting the game up. Dani Treinen then reached first on an error and sent Wheeler home with the go-ahead run. Catcher Emily Cibulka then laced a Frey offering to left scoring two more runs and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Bredeson. In the sixth the Pumas added another run to make the final 6-1.Cibulka went 3x4 with three rbi while Barnharst was 2x3 and Mackey wound up 2x3 and was on base three times. Blochwitz got the win and Haley Radewan finished up for Poynette in the seventh inning. The Pumas now host the 29th Annual Poynette Fastpitch Jamboree on the weekend. Fifty two teams playing 65 games in all.