Triangular sweep brings Gators to .500 mark

The Wisner-Pilger Gator softball team picked up some big wins this week, including a sweep of triangular action Thursday in West Point.

Big finishes played the key in wins of 13-5 over Tekamah-Herman and 14-3 over West Point-Beemer.

In the battle with T-H, the Gators trailed 5-3 entering the sixth inning, but the bats heated up in a hurry.

Fourteen Gators stepped to the plate in the inning, producing 10 runs for the 13-5 win.

Teddy McMahon had a huge double in the rally, driving in three of the ten runs. Eve Ortmeier and Kari Liermann finished with two hits each in the rally.

Alexis Knust came away with three hits to lead the Gators, which finished with 13 total hits. Finishing with two hits each were Ortmeier, Krista Ott, and Kari Liermann.

The second battle of the night saw W-P and WP-B tied at 3-3 through three innings. Again the locals exploded.

This time, 15 hitters stepped to the plate and produced 11 runs in the top of the fourth inning.

Leading the rally was Kayli Wheaton with a grand slam home run over the fence.

W-P finished with 11 hits, getting two each from Suzanne Ras, Knust, and Shayna McCain.

In a battle last Tuesday, the locals traveled to O’Neill in a rematch of the previous weekend’s third place contest.

The Gators needed seven innings this time around, but came away with a 9-4 victory.

W-P trailed 3-0 in the game, but dominated the scoring column after three innings. The nine Gator runs came via three-run rallies in each of the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings.

On the other hand, the pitching combination of Heidi Miller and Suzanne Ras combined to allow just two runs in the final six innings for O’Neill. Miller earned the win, while Rass picked up the save.

Offensively, Ortmeier and Samantha Liermann had big nights with two hits each. Liermann drove in four runs, while Ortmeier scored a pair.

The trio of wins improved W-P to 6-6 on the season.

This came after a 1-2 tourney showing at the Gator Invite. W-P defeated Lincoln High 6-5 to start off the tourney, but fell in consecutive matchups with David City 5-8 and O’Neill 3-6.