GILMAN SOFTBALL - Pirates clipped by Colfax after three straight Eastern Cloverbelt wins

GILMAN SOFTBALL

The Gilman Pirates didn’t get a win Tuesday at Colfax, but they did get other goals accomplished during their 17-9 nonconference loss to the 19-3 Vikings.

The main objective for head coach Brian Phelps and his crew was to prep for the playoffs and they did that by getting to face Colfax’s top pitcher Laikyn Beyer.

Gilman did some damage against her with an eight-run top of the fifth that got the Pirates back into the game at 13-9. But Colfax’s offensive firepower was a little too much to handle as the Pirates slipped to 12-7 overall.

“The thing I was happy with is that we walked three times and struck out five,” Phelps said. “To me, that means we were hitting the ball and putting it in play. That’s a good thing.”

The Pirates know they’ll see a good pitcher in Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran’s Hannah Kazemba in Tuesday’s WIAA Division 5 regional semifinal. Kazemba and the Lancers have beaten Gilman twice in the past calendar year. Phelps said Kazemba is the harder thrower, but Beyer throws more variety at hitters and seeing her was a plus before tournament play.

Scarlett Stuner got Gilman on the board in the top of second with an RBI single to cut Colfax’s lead to 2-1, but the Vikings put up a six-spot in the bottom half and scored four more in the fourth for a 13-1 lead.

Not only did Gilman prevent the game from ending early in the fifth, the Pirates briefly made a game of it with their big inning.

Allison Olynick started it with a solo home run. Kayleigh James reached on an error, Raygen Soper walked and Kenlyn Kroeplin, Danielle Mann, Abby Chaplinski all singled. Ava Warner walked and Jayda Rosemeyer singled all before an out was recorded. Stuner and James reached on fielder’s choices that scored runs.

Gilman finished with 11 hits and was only outhit 12-11. Colfax put the game away with three runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth. Mann pitched for Gilman, striking out four and walking three.

“Their top four hitters can really hit,” Phelps said. “We didn’t really have an answer for them.”

Gilman has added one more regular- season game for today, Thursday, at Phillips. Tuesday’s regional semifinal starts at 5 p.m. at Eau Claire’s Gelein Field with the winner advancing to a May 23 regional final, likely at second-seeded Thorp.

Pirates 15, Warriors 1

In Monday’s completion of an originally-scheduled doubleheader May 7, the Pirates scored five runs in the fourth and six more in the sixth in a 15-1 drubbing of Neillsville-Granton.

Game one of that doubleheader six days earlier, Gilman won ugly 16-15, but Phelps said that game may turn out to be a key point in the Pirates’ season as it prompted some defensive and lineup changes that have seemed to work well in the past week.

“Defensively, we’ve played well,” he said. “We’ve cut down on the errors. There’s been a big difference.”

Gilman played as the visitors and Mann allowed the only hit and run Neillsville-Granton would get in the bottom of the first. The Pirates tied it in the second, grabbed the lead in the third and extended it from there.

Mann’s three-run double was the big hit that broke the game open in the fourth.

Mann was two for three with two runs scored and four driven in. She struck out six and walked two. Gilman had just one error behind her.

Kroeplin was two for three and scored three times. Soper was one for one with three walks and scored twice. Warner was two for four with two runs scored and Olynick was two for three with a walk and scored twice.

With the win, Gilman finished 10-2 in Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play, good for sole possession of second place behind 12-0 Columbus Catholic.

A 7-6 win

The Pirates survived an upset bid by visiting Loyal-Greenwood Friday, but a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth shot that bid down in a 7-6 win.

Loyal-Greenwood broke a 4-4 tie with two runs in the top half of the inning. But Olynick singled and James reached on an error to get one last rally started for Gilman in the bottom half. Olynick scored following the error. Kroeplin singled with one out to drive in James and Mann’s base hit knocked in Kroeplin with the go-ahead run.

The guests took a 4-1 lead with a threerun third, but Gilman answered that in the fourth as three walks set up a game-tying, two-run double by Soper. GILMAN BASEBALL

The Gilman Pirates challenged themselves Tuesday, adding a trip to Marawood North co-champion Abbotsford-Colby to their late-season baseball schedule. The Falcons jumped ahead early and stayed comfortably ahead during a 13-3, five-inning win.

The Pirates, finishing a difficult run of five games in seven days, found themselves down 11-0 after two innings and 12-0 after three before scraping together a little bit of offense in the next two innings. But Abbotsford-Colby got the run it needed in the fifth to put the 10-run rule into effect. The 19th-ranked Division 2 team in the state according to this week’s rankings improved to 17-7.

Gilman, now 4-10 overall, had just two hits. The first was a fourth-inning single by Joey Syryczuk off Falcon ace JV Castillo. After Henry Syryczuk was hit by a pitch, Joey Syryczuk scored on an error on a ball hit by Dalton Wisocky.

In the fifth, Beau Pockat hit a one-out single, moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on an error by the catcher. Lucas Halida reached on an error on his pop-up and Connor Nichols walked to load the bases. Joey Syryczuk’s grounder drove in Pockat and another Falcon error on a ball hit by Henry Syryczuk scored Halida to make it 12-3.

But Castillo singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch to end the game in the bottom half.

Abbotsford-Colby four-run first started with consecutive doubles by Castillo, Blake Bargender and Payton Schreiber with the next two runs scoring on an error and a wild pitch. The killer for Gilman was the second when Abbotsford-Colby got a three-run homer from Eric Reis as the centerpiece of its seven-run inning.

The top four hitters in Abbotsford-Colby’s order had all nine of the team’s hits, including three by Castillo. Reis had four RBIs.

Dawson Grunseth pitched the first two innings for Gilman. Six of the 11 runs charged to him were earned. He allowed seven hits and four walks but struck out three. Pockat struck out two, walked one and allowed two hits and two earned runs in two-plus innings.

Reis got the win, going three hitless and scoreless innings for the home team. He struck out three.

Gilman is scheduled to finish its regular season with a home game against Prentice Friday and a trip to Rib Lake on Monday. WIAA Division 4 post-season play will start May 23.

Warriors 25, Pirates 4

Monday was not a fun outing for the Pirates, who finished 3-7 in the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference after being on the wrong end of a 25-4 thumping from visiting Neillsville-Granton.

The Warriors scored six runs in the first, four more in the second and an eight-spot in the third made it 20-0 before Gilman got on the board with a successful double steal with Chad Konsella stealing home. The Pirates got three in the fourth. With the bases loaded, Tony Syryczuk singled to drive in one, Troy Duellman stole home and Joey Syryczuk drove in a run with a groundout.

The Pirates had five hits, including two each from Konsella and Tony Syryczuk.

Five Gilman pitchers tried to slow down Neillsville-Granton with little success. The Pirates also had six errors.

Andrew Hoeser was three for four with five runs driven in and three runs scored to lead Neillsville-Granton’s 14-hit attack. Sam Hayes also was three for five with a home run and five RBIs.

Neillsville-Granton is in second place in the conference at 7-2 with one game remaining against Loyal.

Gilman 14, Greenwood 6

The Pirates made it five straight wins over Greenwood the past two seasons with a 14-6 home win over the Indians on Friday.

Gilman started and finished strong offensively in the win, using a five-run second and seven runs over the fifth and sixth innings to assure this one was going into the win column.

Halida gave Gilman a spark in the leadoff spot, going two for four with three runs scored and three driven in. Joey Syryczuk was two for four with two RBIs and Duellman was two for three and scored twice. Nichols drew three walks and scored three runs.

Pockat got the win with five relief innings. He took over for Duellman in the second inning and got through the sixth, allowing three hits and four runs, three of which were earned. He struck out three and walked four.

Down 2-1, Gilman’s five-run second put it ahead for good. Adam Draeger, Duellman and Halida had RBI singles in the rally. Halida added another RBI single in the third.Grunseth’s two-run single keyed the three-run fifth that made it 10-4.

After Greenwood scored twice in the top of the sixth, Gilman put it away with its four-run bottom half, where the Pirates got some help from the Indians’ defense, scoring on a passed ball, a wild pitch and an infield single by Syryczuk.

Dawson Robinson pitched the seventh for Gilman, striking out two.

Warriors 15, Pirates 0

On Thursday, host Neillsville-Granton hit Gilman with an offensive barrage, piling up 13 hits in just four innings as the Warriors cruised to a 15-0 win.

Gilman got four hits against three Warrior pitchers. Hoeser covered the first four innings and struck out six Gilman hitters, while walking one and allowing two hits.

Grunseth, Tate Krizan, Halida and Konsella all hit singles for Gilman.

It was a tough day, however, for Gilman’s starting pitcher Dalton Wisocky. Neillsville-Granton built a 12-0 lead through three innings. Wisocky went 2.1 innings and was charged with 10 hits and 11 earned runs.

Reese McDonald’s three-run homer was the key blow in the Warriors’ six-run second. McDonald added a double and was two for three with five RBIs.

Columbus 12, Gilman 1

On May 8, Columbus Catholic scored in every inning but one and cruised to a 12-1, six-inning win over the Pirates on a beautiful afternoon for baseball in Gilman.

The win kept the Dons undefeated in conference play.

The Dons jumped ahead 8-0 by the middle of the third, scoring twice in the first aided by an outfield error, twice in the second after loading the bases on walks and four times in the third, aided by two costly errors. The inning ended with a nice defensive play as Wisocky snared a line drive hit toward second base by Cy Becker and turned it into an unassisted double play.

Gilman got its run in the bottom of the third inning on consecutive two-out singles by Nichols, Joey Syryczuk and Grunseth.

Grunseth and Syryczuk each had two of Gilman’s eight hits.

Grunseth took the loss, though his line would’ve been considerably better without the errors. In four innings, he allowed eight hits and nine runs, six of which were earned. He struck out one and walked six. Robinson finished up, allowing three runs, one of which was earned, in the sixth.

Blake Jakobi allowed eight hits and struck out four in five innings for the Dons.