Bonduel wins 2 to take CWC-East softball crown

The Bonduel High School softball team’s magical season continued May 9 when the team earned 2-0 and 5-0 wins over Weyauwega-Fremont on an extremely windy May 9 afternoon in Bonduel to secure the Central Wisconsin Conference-East Division title.

“It means a lot. We really put in a lot of practice,” said Bonduel’s Macy Niles of winning the conference. “Last year wasn’t our greatest, and this year we’ve just been more confident and worked harder. We play hard.”

Bonduel, which was undefeated and still had two conference games remaining in the regular season, has won in all kinds of ways this spring. Against Weyauwega-Fremont, the Bears used strong pitching from Claire Gehm and Nakiyah Henning mixed with strong defense and timely offense to come out on top.

In the 2-0 win in game one, Gehm worked a gem. She pitched all seven innings, striking out 10 batters to work around four hits and two walks.

“I just knew coming into the game that we didn’t really know where we stood, and this game really determined that. All I knew is that I could do as best as I could do, go out there and play and pitch like I can and my defense can back me up,” said Gehm. “They did that for sure, and I’m so thankful for every diving and windy high pop they got.”

Bonduel found a way to support Gehm by scratching across a run in the third and fifth innings.

Abby Stoltenow reached base in the third on a hit to right field. She later moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Tatum Sporisky and then scored on a passed ball.

Audrey Weier walked to start the fifth frame and moved to second on a sac bunt from Niles. Another bunt from Stoltenow moved Weier to third. Bonduel’s next batter struck out, but as Weyauwega-Fremont threw to first to secure the out, Weier sprinted home for the team’s second run.

From there, Gehm took care of business, tossing two more zeros on the scoreboard to complete the win.

“It honestly gets me teary-eyed,” said Gehm on winning the CWC-East title as a senior. “I never thought it was going to happen. This has been the best team I’ve played with, but I still never expected it. As we continued to win each week, I said, ‘I definitely see something, and I want us to keep going with it.’”

Game two was nearly a carbon copy of the first, but with Henning in the circle for the Bears. In her seven innings, she struck out six batters while working around seven baserunners.

Henning also had some strong defensive play behind her. Ironically, one of the few misplays by the Bears on the day worked in the team’s favor, as a dropped popup turned into a game-ending double play.

“It says a lot (about the team winning with its pitching and defense), especially after last year where we didn’t have that strong defense,” said Henning. “Defense wins games. If I didn’t have them, we wouldn’t be where we are now. You can’t have errors, and our defense has just been really good this year and it’s a great feeling.”

Serving as the visitors, Bonduel gave Henning early run support with a single tally in the first.

Sporisky singled to open the game and worked her way around the bases before scoring as the visitors secured another strikeout at first base.

Ella Hischke singled to open the second and later scored on a Niles safety squeeze bunt.

Bonduel added two runs in the fifth frame, doing all the damage with two outs. Lila Pleshek was hit by a pitch and then stole second before scoring on Hailee Thompson’s single. Thompson also stole second and then scored on a Hailey Zernicke single.

The host’s final run came in the sixth. Niles scored the run on a Sporisky single.

“I think that we’ve had really good heads-up baserunning,” said Niles. “We really want to win this year, so we’ve just been having more drive to get places on the bases.”

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