GILMAN SOFTBALL - Two big innings power Pirates in win to cap softball regular season

GILMAN SOFTBALL

Falling behind 7-0 in the first two innings certainly wasn’t ideal, but Gilman turned things around in a big way over the next three innings Thursday and closed the softball regular season with an 18-9 non-conference win at Phillips.

A 10-run third inning changed the game and a seven-run fifth inning put it away as the Pirates finished the regular season at 13-7 overall. The Loggers ended at 5-7.

Gilman pounded out 18 hits and with six batters collecting multiple hits. Danielle Mann had the biggest day of all, going three for four with a grand slam home run, a double and seven runs batted in.

“We just started swinging the bats,” Gilman head coach Brian Phelps said. “They say hitting is contagious. Wow, that was something to watch. There were a couple of times where I thought we should just try to move a runner, but the way it was going, I didn’t want to take the bat out of anybody’s hands.”

The Loggers jumped ahead with a fourrun first, aided by two unearned runs, and added three more in the second.

An Allison Olynick walk to lead off the top of the third, however, started to pull the momentum Gilman’s way. Kayleigh James drove in Olynick with a triple and Raygen Soper drove James in with a base hit. Kenlyn Kroeplin, Mann and Abby Chaplinski singled. After walks to Ava Warner and Jayda Rosemeyer, Scarlett Stuner hit a run-scoring single. Kroeplin had another single later in the inning and Mann capped it with a two-run double.

The Loggers pulled within 10-9 in the fourth, but then Gilman had a huge response in the top of the fifth. Again Olynick started it, this time with a single. James walked and Kroeplin singled to load the bases for Mann, who crushed a Brooke Eckert offering over the fence in straightaway center for her grand slam.

The inning didn’t stop there as Chaplinski and Warner singled. After two walks and a hit batter, James had the capper with a two-run single.

James and Kroeplin both went three for five. Chaplinski was two for five. Warner was two for three with two walks and Olynick, the number-nine hitter, was two for two and drew three walks.

Mann went the distance for Gilman after getting through some early struggles. She allowed 11 hits and nine runs. There were three errors behind her. Mann struck out three and walked three.

“We figured out what was working and what wasn’t and changed things up,” Phelps said. “She settled in after that, which was good to see.”

Gilman’s WIAA Division 5 regional semifinal at Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran was postponed Tuesday due to the threat of severe weather. It was to be played Wednesday after the deadline for this week’s issue of The Star News.

The winner plays in the regional final today, Thursday, at second-seeded Thorp. The Cardinals moved their regional semifinal with Clear Lake up to Monday and won that 10-0.

The regional champion will advance to sectional play with the semifinal game on Tuesday and the final May 30 at Athens at 5 p.m.