Softball: D.C. Everest holds off Wausau West rally in completion of suspended game to advance in D-1 playoffs

When the rains came last night the D.C. Everest softball team had a 5-0 lead over Wausau West in the top of the 5th inning in their WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal. The Warriors knew they had some work to do and they did rally but came up short in the end as the Evergreens advance with a 7-4 victory. Everest moves on to a regional final tomorrow at Hortonville.

The Warriors made a game of it with a three run top of the sixth inning. With one out Jaidyn Oelke walked and was followed by a single by Taylor Deffner and a fielder's choice where no outs were recorded as Oelke was able to beat a tag at third to load the bases. At that point Everest pitcher Piper Schulz ran into some control difficulty and walked Taylor Murkowski and Kaitlyn Butler to force in two runs and pull West within 5-2. A fielder's choice scored another run as the Warriors moved to within 5-3 and had the potential tying run on 1st base. However, Schulz was able to strike out Brooklyn Calmes to end the inning.

In the bottom of the inning Everest got two of the runs back on a two-out, 2 RBI double by Allison Blarek to push the lead back to 4 at 7-3. West tried again to rally in the 7th with an RBI single by Jaidyn Calmes with two out scored Oelke to make it 7-4. With two runners on base, the tying run again came to the plate for the Warriors but Schulz induced a groundout from Taylor Murkowski to end the game.

Mara Meverden was 2 of 3 with a home run in the game for Everest while Maddie Hoppe added 2 hits and an RBI as well. Schulz was the winning pitcher in tossing a complete game while allowing 4 runs on 6 hits with 7 walks and 6 strikeouts. Jaidyn Calmes had two hits and an RBI for West, who finish their season at 11-14. The 6th seeded Evergreens are now 16-10 and hit the road for their regional final against 3rd seeded Hortonville. The Polar Bears are 22-3 and have faced two Wisconsin Valley Conference opponents this season with a 7-0 win over Wisconsin Rapids on April 10th and a 6-5 loss vs. Stevens Point on May 9th.