Softball: Wausau West puts up big offense but falls to De Pere and West De Pere.

The Wausau West softball team scored 26 runs on 32 hits on Saturday at the De Pere Invitational but ran into a pair teams who were just as hot at the plate. The Warriors lost their opener 19-14 to De Pere and fell 13-12 to West De Pere in the nightcap. Both games aired on the Wausau Area Sports YouTube channel.

In the first game West had 18 hits with five Warriors having at least three hits in the game. Jaidyn Calmes led the attack with 4 hits and 5 RBI. Taylor Murkowski added three hits and her first home run of the season. Breanne Bushong, Taylor Deffner and Jaidyn Oelke all had three hits as well for West. De Pere also had 18 hits but used the long ball to pull away for the win. The Redbirds hit two three-run homers and also had a grand slam.

In the second game the offenses took a while to get going. West was held hitless through three innings and trailed 1-0 going into the 4th inning. With two out Brooklyn Freiberg got the Warriors on the board with a 2 RBI single and was followed by a 2-run double by Kaitlyn Butler to make it 4-1. West De Pere scored three times in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. West retook the lead in the 5th with three runs. Jaidyn Oelke hit an RBI single and Emmalin Grosnick added a 2 RBI single of her own and it was 7-4 West. West De Pere wouldn't go away pulled back to within 7-6 in the bottom of the 5th on a 2 run homer by Miah Shefchik.

The Warriors continued their two out magic in the 6th on a 2 RBI single by Jaidyn Calmes to reestablish a 3 run lead at 9-6. The offensive back and forth tilted toward the Phantoms in the bottom of the 6th when West De Pere scored five times to take an 11-9 lead. It looked like that would be enough as West was down to their final out still down 2. However, with a runner on 2nd base, Breanne Bushong drilled a fly ball over the center field fence to tie the game at 11. Then Oelke lined a double to deep left field and scored on a ground ball that went through the legs of the West De Pere shortstop to give the Warriors a 12-11 lead heading into the bottom of the 7th.

This time is was West that was one out away from the win. With two out and runners on 2nd and 3rd, Jocelyn Vieth singled to center to tie the game at 12. That was followed by an error and West De Pere was on the right end of the seesaw in the end 13-12.

West had another 14 hits in the game, led by Bushong with three more hits that gave the freshman 7 on the day. Oelke also had a second three hit day on the day and Brooklyn Freiberg also added three hits. The Warriors fall to 8-9 on the season and will next be in action on Tuesday night at D.C. Everest.