Published: May 29, 2015
Kewaskum avoids another quick exit
Indians score 4 unearned runs in 6th inning
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
KEWASKUM — Indians softball coach Jeff Gosse stood in the
third base coaches box four outs away from another quick exit in the WIAA state
tournament series.
“I was starting to wonder ‘what do I have to do different to
get us out of the second round?’” Gosse said. “It’s the second round that’s
been our bugaboo. I don’t know what I’ve got to do different.”
They got a break.
Kewaskum’s Melanie Juech hit a well-hit ball into
right-center field with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and the Indians
trailing. She put her head down and ran.
“Coach always tells us to think two on a hit,” she said.
She didn’t see Mayville’s right fielder drop the flyball in
the gap and extend the inning. From there, the Indians didn’t let up, going on
to score four unearned runs in the inning and escape with a 7-5 victory
Thursday in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal at Kiwanis Park.
“They fought; they fought all game long,” Gosse said. “They
didn’t give up.”
A loss would’ve been a devastating blow for the Indians
after they broke a school record this year for victories in a season (21-5).
It would’ve been the third straight year the Indians failed
to win a playoff game — all at home and as the higher seed.
Since 2011 — all secondround exits — Kewaskum has averaged
15 victories per season, but has one playoff victory to show for it. In 2012,
Kewaskum beat Brown Deer in the first round of the regional, then lost to
Kettle Moraine Lutheran in the second round.
“After the season, I would’ve had to sit down and talk to
people and say ‘What am I doing wrong? What are we doing wrong?’” Gosse said
when asked what a loss Thursday would’ve meant going into the offseason.
Instead, the Indians are on their way to the third round of
the regional for the first time since 2010.
Awaiting them is No. 1-seeded Grafton, which beat KML, 9-1,
on Thursday.
It’ll be the third straight year Kewaskum and Grafton will
meet in the playoffs. The teams also met in the third round of the 2010
playoffs.
Grafton has won each matchup.
“We’ve been looking forward to it all year,” Juech said
about the rematch with Grafton.
The game will be at 4:30 p.m. today at John Long Middle
School in Grafton.
Juech stepped up to the plate with a runner on second and
two outs. Her putting the ball into play allowed Lindsay Winkler to score from
second base.
“I thought it was in the gap,” Gosse said. “All of a sudden
that outfielder came in and I was like, ‘Oh, she’s going to get there, she’s
going to get there.’ “Then all of a sudden I saw she took the wrong (angle) and
sort of knew it was going to be off the tip of the glove. I was like, ‘We’ve
got to get them in.’” After that, the Indians got a pair of singles from
Madalyn Lehmann and Brittany Williams, and a double by Emma Debelak to add two
more runs and a 6-5 lead.
Lehmann’s RBI single tied it at 5 and Debelak’s double gave
Kewaskum the lead.
Kewaskum added an insurance run when an errant throw to the
pitcher during an at-bat allowed Williams to score from third.
“I think the pressure went from on us to them,” Gosse said.
“We caught a break.”
“The emotion really picked up,” he added.
Kewaskum surrendered the lead twice in the game. It led 1-0
going into the third, then Mayville scored twice in the inning to take a 2-1
lead. Kewaskum countered with two runs for a 3-2 lead.
Mayville scored three runs in the top of the fifth to take a
5-3 lead and that was the deficit going into the bottom of the sixth.
While Gosse struggled with the possibility of another early
playoff exit, his players were thankfully optimistic.
“We were feeling pressure, but we knew we had to buckle
down, get outs and do what we normally do,” Juech said. “We had to stick
together as a team.”
“We knew we could pull this off,” she added.
The winner of today’s regional championship game will play
Tuesday in the sectional semifinal.
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