By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
WAUKESHA - Amherst's hopes of winning a second straight WIAA Division 3 softball state championship ended Wednesday in a 3-2 loss to Seneca in the tournament title game.
The Falcons, who finished with a 26-2 record, led 2-1 after five innings when Seneca responded with two runs in the top of the sixth inning. Amherst was unable to tie the game in its final two at bats.
"We lost in the championship of a game that could've gone either way. It was a tough one to lose," Amherst coach Tim Pederson said. "We made a couple of mistakes and it cost us the game. In these games where runs are hard to come by, you can't make mistakes.
"We knew a lot of teams were out to beat us. To make it as far as we did, you can't be ashamed of being 26-2," he said.
Both of the Indians' runs in the sixth came after Amherst errors. Dana Fritsche reached on an error after hitting a drag bunt. Fritsche moved over to third on Melany Hall's groundout. Kelli Roberts also reached on an error and stole second base- to put runners at second and third base. Catcher Tasha Tratusch then hit a two-run single to give Seneca the lead.
Jenni Orsund hit a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh, representing the tying run. But Betsy Hoffman lined out to leftfield and Anne Stanislawski lined out to centerfield to end the game.
"Both balls were hit good, but they were hit right to people," Pederson said.
Amherst got on the scoreboard first, with a run in the opening inning. Orsund reached on an error and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Stanislawski followed with one of her three hits, driving in Orsund with a single to rightfield.
Seneca tied the game in the top of the third and then Orsund got the Falcons going again in the fifth. The junior drew a two-out walk, stole second base and then reached third when Trautsch's throw sailed into centerfield. Hoffman then hit a grounder to Roberts at shortstop, but Roberts' throw pulled first baseman Lindsay Sutton off of the bag and Orsund scored.
In her final game for Amherst, Jenny Jastromski allowed four hits and struck out 12. She gave up three runs, but only one was earned.
Seneca's pitcher, Hall, struck out seven, walked two and allowed four hits. Both of Amherst's runs were unearned.
In its semifinal against Cameron, the Falcons got an early 2-0 lead and went on to win 4-1.
Orsund led off the game with a triple and later scored. Hoffman scored later in the first inning to give Amherst a 2-0 lead.
Orsund's baserunning gave the Falcons a 3-0 advantage in the third. She walked, stole second, moved to third on an error and then scored on Hoffman's single to centerfield. Orsund scored for the third time in the game in the fifth after reaching on an error. She stole second base and third base and Jastromski drove her in with a RBI single to centerfield.
"Orsund set the tone right way. Getting that triple right away helped," Pederson said.
Jastromski scattered four hits and allowed one run, which came in the sixth inning. The Indians actually had the bases loaded with one out and came away with just one run.
"We made it and that was our goal - to make it to the second game," Jastromski said.
The tournament marked the final games for five seniors - Jastromski, Julie Peskie, Crystal Morgan, Erin Jensen and Renee Ostrowski.
"They've been playing with me for four years and it's tough. They've been to state three times, so that's good for them," Pederson said.