OCONOMOWOC 鈥 Freshman Kyleigh Sadler backed a strong pitching performance with a solid day at the plate to give Muskego coach Brooke Balk a homecoming victory of sorts on the road.
Kyleigh Sadler opened with three scoreless innings, then returned after a pitching change to toss the final 1 2/3 innings to help undefeated Muskego to a 9-4 Classic 8 Conference victory Tuesday over Oconomowoc, where Balk coached last season.
"It was emotional. It鈥檚 a double-edged sword because I want to see those kids, who I knew have been working hard in the Oconomowoc program, succeed," Balk said. "But then also obviously I want to make sure that our kids are succeeding over in Muskego and we鈥檙e getting the job done on our side.
"There was no losing for me today, no matter how the score came out."
Kyleigh Sadler also drove in three runs with a double and a single. Samantha Brunner went 3-for-3, including a double, and scored three runs for the Warriors, who remained atop the Classic 8 Conference at 7-0 and improved to 9-0 overall.
Muskego scored three in the first off Oconomowoc freshman Charlotte Hayes. Ceci Carpio and Grace Swiezynski reached on singles and moved up on a two out wild pitch. Kyleigh Sadler followed with a two run double to center. Ella Gibson followed with a run scoring single. The Warriors added three more in the second on a two run double by Autumn Sadler and RBI single by Kyleigh Sadler.
Muskego made it 7-0 in the third when Reese Heinrich drew a bases-loaded walk. The Warriors added another run in the fourth on a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Ella Hirsch.
Swiezynski relieved to start the fourth and turned in a scoreless inning, but Oconomowoc pushed across three runs in the fifth.
Ailey Bolson singled to open and Carli Moldenhauer and Ella Tower drew consecutive one-out walks to load the bases. Kamryn Stoltz followed with a two-run double to left-center. Kelsey Yambor walked to reload the bases and Tower came home on a fielder鈥檚 choice ground out to make it 8-3.
Kyleigh Sadler returned to the mound to finish a scoreless sixth, and the Warriors added a run in the seventh when Brunner doubled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Hirsch鈥檚 ground out.
The Raccoons finally got to Kyleigh Sadler in the seventh. Moldenhauer reached on a rocket that shortstop Cora Jahimiak was unable to handle. Tower followed with a long single off the fence in right, sending Moldenhauer to third. Yambor added a one-out RBI single up the middle, but Kyleigh Sadler worked out of the jam with a strikeout and ground out.
Oconomowoc dropped to 4-3 in the conference and 5-5 overall. 鈥淚 thought we had really good defense, but we could have started the bats off a little sooner,鈥 Oconomowoc co-coach Chloe Auxier said. 鈥淚f we could take what we did in the seventh inning and put it back in the first inning, I think it would have been a closer ballgame.鈥
Kyleigh Sadler allowed one unearned run on three hits, striking bout seven and walking two. Swiezynski allowed three runs on two hits, with three walks and a hit batter.
鈥淚 thought my drops were really working today and my high inside fastball was good,鈥 Kayleigh Sadler said. 鈥淎nd, I鈥檝e always been confident with pitching, so when I get hits, I love it.鈥
Hayes allowed nine runs, seven earned, on 11 hits. She struck out three and walked three, but along with three hit batters. But she allowed just one run on one hit over the final three innings.
鈥淢y curveball wasn鈥檛 working very well in the first couple of innings and that鈥檚 when they scored the majority of their runs,鈥 Hayes said. 鈥淏ut I think it was a lot better once I got that working in the later innings.鈥