WILT’S 100TH STRIKEOUT HELPS RAIDERS SWEEP HUBBARD

HUBBARD OH-  They always say it’s hard to beat a team two days in a row. On Tuesday South Range was reminded of this all too well.  Although they dispatched Hubbard without a whimper on Monday, the Eagles pushed the Raiders to the brink in Tuesday’s rematch.  The Raiders had to use a three run 5th to give themselves enough room for a 4-0 win.

Hubbard gave the ball to Ashley Masluk who was making her first career varsity start.  The sophomore kept the Raiders off balanced for all 4 innings she pitched. She was able to even put the high powered South Range down in three pitches in the 2nd.  However, the Raiders are no stranger to close games.  In the 4th the Raiders finally broke through as Anna Aey led off with a double, and Gretchen Bartels knocked her home with a RBI single.  Even though Masluk was able get out of the rest of the inning with no damage, the Eagles made the decision to switch pitchers giving Masluk 4 innings of superb pitching in her first start.

The Raiders eyes got wide open with a new pitcher in the game.  Kaylee Schultz came in in relief and the Raiders jumped on her for three runs in the 5th.  Giada Pauline got herself a RBI single, and then Aey backed her up with her second double of the game to score another.  Jayli Wilt was able to help her own cause with a single to score Aey to give the Raiders a solid 4-0 lead.

Wilt was phenomenal yet again in the circle for South Range. She went 7 innings gave up just 1 hit, struck out 13 and walked 2.  Wilt’s performance let her eclipse 100 strikeouts on the season.

The Eagles struggled all day at the plate against Wilt, although they did have several hard hit balls that just weren’t in the right spot for a hit. Phoebe Rusnak was the only hitter in the lineup to earn a hit on the day.

South Range improves to 10-1 on the season and will have some time off before they travel to Niles on Monday.  Hubbard is now 3-4 as they’ll host Girard on Wednesday.