It was a tough season opener on the road for the Ellsworth softball team as the Panthers fell 13-3 in six innings to the Hudson Raiders on Friday, April 8.

In terms of playing tough competition, it likely won’t get more difficult for Ellsworth this season. Hudson is a Division 1 program that made it to the sectional semi-final in the 2021 season and finished the year with a 15-2 record and as Big Rivers Conference champions. They have talent, to say the least.

Hudson scored a run in both the bottom of the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead into the third frame. After holding Ellsworth scoreless in the top of the third, the Raiders’ offense exploded in the bottom of the third inning with a five-run barrage to take a 7-0 lead into the fourth.

For Ellsworth’s pitching staff, sophomore Madison Peterson was in the circle. She allowed six hits and seven runs – six of them earned – over three innings while striking out one Raider batter. Although Peterson gave up runs while pitching, she also scored runs for Ellsworth in her opportunities at the plate.

In the top of the sixth inning, Peterson hit a 2 RBI triple to the gap, scoring freshman Aliza Acker and sophomore Molly Janke to make it a 7-2 game in favor of Hudson heading to the bottom of the fourth.

By the time the sixth inning rolled around, Hudson had an 8-2 advantage with Ellsworth on the ropes. In the top of the sixth, the aforementioned Acker cranked a solo home run to deep right-center to make it an 8-3 ball game going into the bottom of the sixth.

The Raiders continued to do damage in the bottom of the sixth inning when Hudson scored five more runs to make it a 13-3 game, which triggered the 10-run rule and ended the game. Although the scoreboard wasn’t kind to Ellsworth, head coach Kenzie Diercks reflected positively on the game.

“The score didn’t show it, but I think (today) looked good for us,” Diercks said. “We were missing two of our starting players in Kallie Beissel and Shayla Gilbertson, that’s a good chunk of our starting lineup.”

Diercks spoke about how her Panthers were too reserved at the plate and weren’t aggressive enough given opportunities. Perhaps part of that was not taking advantage of runners in scoring position. In total, Ellsworth left eight girls stranded on base, including the top of the sixth inning when the Panthers had the bases juiced with no outs and didn’t score. “We recognize that we weren’t aggressive at the plate,” Diercks said after the loss. “If we are aggressive and start working on offense, I think we can compete with the best of them. Early we were watching a lot and then she threw her junk at us and we couldn’t catch up. The girls recognized that in the circle, we need to attack the ball early.”

Typically, in a high school opener, there are issues defensively while student-athletes acclimate to the new season and new teammates around the diamond. Ellsworth limited mistakes to two errors – the same amount as Hudson – and was solid throughout the sixinning contest. “Defensively, we looked pretty sound,” Diercks said. “A lot of those girls haven’t been on the field before, they’re young players, and that’s exciting. Our strong returners (defensively) are Aubrey Wittenberg and Brianna Maurer. We know what we have there, and we know how good they are.”

Weather conditions throughout the last two weeks have certainly impacted Ellsworth’s outdoor practice schedule, but Diercks said that she has had her team outside when possible and is ready for Middle Border Conference games to begin the week of April 11.

“We’re as prepared as we can be (for Middle Border games),” Diercks said. “We’ve been outside a decent number of times, but we just need to do it. Similar to last year, we learned better as we made mistakes and as we play. It’s hard to perfect things without playing. I think they’re ready.”

Ellsworth’s conference schedule begins on Tuesday, April 12, on the road against Altoona. That game is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m.

Prescott defeats Altoona 15-1, falls to New Richmond 8-0 It was a tale of two games for Prescott’s season-opening weekend on Saturday, April 9, in Altoona, in which the Cardinals split the day’s games with a 15-1 victory against Middle Border Conference opponent Altoona and an 8-0 loss against the Tigers of New Richmond.

In that opening game against Altoona, junior pitcher Taylor Graf got the start for the Cardinals. She allowed only one hit and one run which was unearned. She struck out two batters in her three innings in the circle for Prescott.

With the game tied 1-1 going to the second inning, it was all Prescott the rest of the way. The Cardinals added at least one run in each inning, including two in the second, four in the fourth and seven runs in the fifth inning to put the game on ice.

Three Prescott batters had three or more RBIs in the game including senior Liz Rohl, who went 3-4 at the plate and four RBIs, senior Brynley Goehring who went 2-4 and had three RBIs and junior Addie Raebel, who finished 2-2 at the plate with three RBIs.

Prescott’s success at the plate in the first game didn’t translate to the second game. In that afternoon contest against New Richmond, the Cardinals mustered only four hits in 25 plate appearances and tallied seven strikeouts and no runs.

On the mound, the aforementioned Graf pitched six innings and gave up eight hits and six earned runs. Graf also struck out two batters during her time in the circle. Prescott will look to regroup against Baldwin-Woodville on Tuesday, April 12, when the Cardinals host the Blackhawks at 5 p.m.

Ellsworth pitcher Ashlyn Huff delivers a strike during the Panthers’ season opener on the road against the Hudson Raiders. Huff made her appearance in the fourth inning in relief of starter Madison Peterson. Photo by Reagan Hoverman

Ellsworth freshman Aliza Acker trots to home plate after hitting a home run to deep right field against Hudson. Acker celebrated with her teammates at home plate. Photo by Reagan Hoverman

Ellsworth senior Brianna Maurer stands on second base during the Panthers’ road game against Hudson. She went 1-3 in the game with a single and a walk. Photo by Reagan Hoverman