No repeat of title game for Gators

Story courtesy of Wisner Chronicle

Heidi Miller, left, Jessie Mutum and Blair Preston, members of the Gator softball team. Photo Credit/Denise Gilliland, Editor and Chief, Kat Country Hub.

Wisner-Pilger’s repeat run to the title game of the East Husker Conference Softball Invite was cut a game short by the Twin River Titans.

In  a semifinal contest played Saturday in West Point, the Titans stormed to a 12-0 win over the locals in just three innings of play.

The winners jumped on W-P for four runs in the opening inning and eight more in the second. Meanwhile, the locals managed just three hits in three innings, but did twice have runners as far as third base.

The loss sent the locals into a rematch of last year’s title game, played Saturday in the consolation contest. The results the same as Tekamah-Herman upended W-P 4-2.

The Gators held a 2-1 lead after scoring twice in the fourth inning on a run batted in double by Kayli Wheaton and a sac fly by Samantha Liermann.

The lead was gone after five innings as T-H mounted a two-run fifth, then added an insurance tally in the sixth.

W-P’s lone win in the tourney came in the opening round, but in no easy manner as West Point-Beemer pushed extra innings before falling 6-5 to the locals.

W-P netted two runs in the top of the eighth inning after two outs. Eve Ortmeier provided a big blow, driving home the initial run of the inning with a double. Kari Liermann followed with a triple to plate Ortmeier.

WP-B managed to score once in the last of the inning, but the Gators worked their way out of the inning without further damage to secure the win.

Wheaton led the way with three hits, followed by Lexi Knust and Suzanne Ras with two each.

In regular season play on Thursday, the locals mustered only a bunt single by Knust as Wayne rolled to a 12-0 iwn in four innings of play.

The 1-3 week left the locals with a 10-14 season record. W-P winds down the regular season in the upcoming week, heading into district play which begins Thursday, Oct. 10.