Jennifer Dowden pitched a 1-hitter, Miranda Schmidt had three hits, and the No. 2 Bonduel High School softball team shut out No. 3 Crivitz, 7-0, in the WIAA Division 3 regional semifinal Tuesday at Cedar Park in Bonduel.
The win sets up a regional final against No. 1 Oconto on Thursday in Oconto.
“It’s going to come down to playing solid defense,” Bonduel coach Chris Reinke said. “If they put the ball in play, we have to pick it up and make the play. It should be a good game.”
Oconto beat No. 4 Crandon 20-0 in five innings.
Dowden struck out 10 batters in 6 2-3 innings before giving way in the seventh inning because of a hand injury suffered after getting hit by a line drive.
“She pitched an excellent game,” Reinke said. “She did take that one shot to her hand on the line drive. Hopefully, we’ll get her iced down and she’ll be all right.”
Freshman Cameri Gehm came in and struck out the final batter.
“She always comes in and she’s very confident, which is cool,” Reinke said.
The Bears (8-8, 6-7 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a single by Schmidt and an RBI double by Alexa Reinke.
“It took a while for our bats to get rattling,” Chris Reinke said. “But in the end we got them going.”
In the fourth, Bonduel open with singles by Morgan Sorenson and Brittny Wudtke. Schmidt then hit an RBI single. Two more runs scored later on a Crivitz error.
In the fifth, the Bears took a 5-0 lead when Kaylee Pedersen singled, got two extra bases and then scored on a sacrifice hit by Courtney Schmidt.
Pedersen and Kailee Rynish each had an RBI single in the sixth.
Cece Johnson got Crivitz’s only hit, a double in the seventh.
Amanda Pickett took the loss for Crivitz (7-5, 5-4 Marinette & Oconto), allowing seven runs on 11 hits in six innings. She struck out six and walked two.
Dowden was examined by trainers after the game, but the junior’s availability for Thursday was not known.
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