Appleton North rips Stevens Point in Division 1 quarterfinal at WIAA State Softball Tournament

AppletonSportsPage.com

MADISON – Following a near four-hour rain delay, the Appleton North softball team was chomping at the bit to get on the field for its Division 1 quarterfinal against Stevens Point at the WIAA State Softball Tournament.

After allowing two early runs, North pounded Stevens Point pitchers to the tune of 10 runs over four innings and blasted the Panthers 10-3 on Wednesday at the Goodman Softball Complex.

Appleton North (20-7) moves on to a Division 1 semifinal against Muskego (27-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday, weather permitting.

Muskego defeated Marshfield 14-8 in the opening game of the tournament before rain and thunderstorms pelted the state capital, resulting in a long delay.

Once things finally got started, it was Stevens Point (25-5) that got on the board first with an RBI double by Jordan Roth in the bottom of the first inning.

Roth knocked in another run with a two-out double in the second to push the Panthers’ lead to 2-0, but from there on it was all about the Lightning’s bats.

The first seven batters in the top of the third reached for Appleton North. Valerie Baranczyk led off with a walk and scored on a wild pitch. Drew Brown singled home Alyssa Wald, who had doubled, to tie the game, and Charlotte Radtke following with a single.

Two errors led to two more runs to put North up for good at 4-2.

Radtke, North’s sophomore pitcher, worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the third, then smacked an RBI single in the fourth to push the Lightning’s lead to three.

Stevens Point got the run back in the bottom of the frame and Radtke shut the Panthers down from there, giving up no more hits or runs over the final three innings. She finished with six strikeouts, two walks and three hit batters, but only the three runs allowed.

North put the game away with a two-run double by Brown in the fifth, and another two-run double by Keira Hughes in the sixth. Wald, Brown, Radtke, Brianna Gehrman, Evelyn Frega and Hughes all had two hits for the Lightning, who had 13 in all.

Lightning 10, Panthers 3
Appleton North   004   123   0   –   10   13   3
Stevens Point   110   100   0   –   3   8   4
WP: Charlotte Radtke. LP: Callie Diekhus.
SO: Radtke 6; Reegan Kedrowski (2 inn.) 3, Diekhus (3 1/3 inn.) 1, Abbi Grabow (1 2/3 inn.) 0. BB: Radtke 2; Kedrowski 2, Diekhus 2, Grabow 0.
Top hitters: AN, Alyssa Wald 2×3, 2B, 3 runs; Drew Brown 2×5, 2B, 3 RBI; Radtke 2×5, RBI; Brianna Gehrman 2×4; Evelyn Frega 2×4; Keira Hughes 2×4, 2B, 2 RBI. SP, Jordan Roth 2×4, 2 2Bs, RBI; Diekhus 3×4, 2B.
Records: Appleton North 20-7; Stevens Point 25-5.