Pioneers beat Devils at Mercer

By JASON JUNO

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MERCER, Wis. — The first two batters went out in the bottom of the first inning. Jenny Klopatek still drove in a run, herself, diving in just ahead of the throw for an inside-the-park home run.

It was an exciting first run for Butternut-Mercer’s first game in Mercer since the co-op formed in the 2017 season.

It set the tone for a 12-5 Pioneers’ win over Ironwood in a non-conference game Tuesday night.

And it was pretty fitting how the first inning went. The two batters who went out were from Butternut; it was one of their many Mercer players, Klopatek, who struck first in the opener at Carow Park.

“It is amazing to have our first game here, with a win too it just feels so good,” Klopatek said. “All the Butternut girls are fine with us coming here too.”

Coach Glenn Wegner figures it’s about a 50-50 split this year between players from the two schools. Butternut struggled to put together a team before the co-op began seven years ago and Mercer hadn’t had softball for years.

It was the first time the Pioneers were playing at Carow Park since the Mercer-Butternut football team finished its brief but successful run in 2019.

“It was good for this town,” Wegner said. “Too bad the conditions weren’t more favorable out there, get more fans here, but it definitely was nice. The field was in great shape, they did a great job getting ready for us.”

The wind almost stole the show. It was unpleasant to stand in, much less play softball in. The east wind seemed strong enough to take a foul ball back to Butternut. It affected a few fly balls, and probably a few pitches, but for the most part, it just made a dry day in the 50s kind of miserable.

The action on the field was worth staying for.

It all started with Klopatek’s hit, which like most inside-the-parkers, was misplayed in the outfield. She pushed the issue, though, to score the run. She said her coach didn’t exactly send her home, so she was glad to be safe in a close play.

Wegner said coaches encourage overall aggressiveness.

“She hustled, she wanted that so bad. It was a great read, great read by her on the bases,” he said. “That’s what we tell the girls, we have nothing to lose, so be aggressive. You’re putting pressure on the defense, stealing bases and taking that extra base and that’s what you need to do.”

The Pioneers made it a 3-0 lead with two runs in the second inning. The rally started with a Mercer player again as Rylinn Rossi walked and eventually scored on a triple by Josie Wegner.

Ironwood got on the board in the third inning. Kylee Lantta was hit by a pitch and she scored on a single by Breleigh Lahti. Second baseman Amber Eith of Mercer dove to stop it but ran out of time to get Lahti.

Rossi singled and eventually scored to make it 4-1 Pioneers in the fourth.

The Devils scored the next three runs to tie it. Jada Godfrey doubled and scored on a passed ball. Whitney Ruotsala walked and scored the other fourth-inning run on a bad throw to first. Lahti had the second of her two hits in the fifth and she scored to tie the game at 4.

The Pioneers retook the lead with two runs in the fifth as Lizzie Pritzl and Wagner both drove in runs. They blew it open with six runs in the sixth, taking advantage of five Ironwood errors. A single by Klopatek scored two runs.

Ironwood got one back in the top of the seventh but left the bases loaded.

The Red Devils only got two hits in their doubleheader loss to Mellen to open the season. But their offense has performed better since. They scored 12 runs in Ashland Saturday and had chances to get more than the five runs they plated Tuesday.

“That’s always encouraging when you have chances, we just need to clean up some stuff defensively,” Ironwood coach Liz Constantini said. “Our pitchers have been doing their jobs, we just can’t be giving more than three outs per inning.”

Lahti took the loss for Ironwood. She struck out nine and allowed nine hits and six walks.

“She threw strikes today, that’s always the key,” Constantini said.

Wegner, a sophomore, got her first career win with five strong innings. She struck out eight and gave up three hits and four walks. She pitched one other inning this year.

“This was a big, big thing for us to have her step on the mound and get the win,” her coach and father said. “She pitched phenomenal, we’ve been working a lot over the winter, mainly just to calm nerves and then she finally trusted herself. She threw a lot of strikes, threw fantastic.”

Jersey Polencheck struck out three in the final two innings.

Klopatek and Rossi both finished with two hits for the Pioneers.

“It was nice, the bats came alive,” Wegner said.

The rest of the home games are scheduled to be in Butternut this season. With the rave reviews of the field, and the number of Mercer players on the team, perhaps the number of games in Mercer will expand next year.

Maybe it won’t be so windy then.

“I’ve been coaching for probably 20 years, I never remember wind like this,” Wegner said.

The home plate umpire called timeout a couple of times to prevent pitchers from having to deal in the worst of the gusts.

“I remember cold — lots of cold, lots of rain, snow — but never 40 mile per hour plus wind gusts. It was tricky. You could see it out there, a few times, both sides, pop-ups were a real bugger, especially in foul territory pushing away from you,” Wegner said.

The Pioneers (3-3) host Hurley and Flambeau Saturday.

Ironwood (0-4) hosts Calumet for a doubleheader Thursday.