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New Bremen's Alayna Ross pitches during Saturday's game against Coldwater.
NEW BREMEN - With two of the Midwest Athletic Conference's top softball pitchers facing each other, the game came down to whichever team could get a run first.
Coldwater did that, scoring a run in the top of the first off New Bremen ace Alayna Ross. That was more than enough for the Cavaliers' Madison Wendel, who scattered three hits in getting a 2-0 win over the Cardinals in conference action on Saturday morning.
Ross and Wendel, ranked 1-2 in strikeouts in the MAC this season, combined for 23 strikeouts and eight hits on the day.
"Alayna is a great pitcher, so we knew runs were going to be at a premium," said Coldwater coach Kyle Ahrens, whose squad improves to 9-8 and 5-1 in the MAC. "With this wind (the strong wind was blowing in), it would be hard to get a ball into the grass. We just had to push (runs) across."
Madison Wendel scattered three hits and struck out 12 in Saturday's win over New Bremen.
"Madison did a great job on the mound today," said New Bremen coach Gary Moeder. "I can't say enough about what Alayna has done for us this year so far. Just a couple miscues here and there and that could be the difference this season."
The Cavaliers got the winning run in the top of the first. Claire Steinke drew a one-out walk and went to second on a wild pitch. Rachel Schroyer bunted in front of the plate, but the throw to first went into right field, allowing Steinke to score from third.
After that, Ross went into shutdown mode. scattering three hits and three walks - one of them an intentional walk to Wendel - over the next five innings.
"We handled it after the first inning," said New Bremen coach Gary Moeder. "
Coldwater's Avery Knapke (5) slides under the tag of New Bremen shortstop Olivia Thornton during Saturday morning's MAC softball game.
Wendel, who had thrown no-hitters in her last two conference games, started out perfectly, retiring the first 13 batters in order - seven by strikeout - until hitting Adriana Heitkamp with a pitch to end the perfect game after 4 1/3 innings. Jenna Rismiller followed that by breaking up the no-hitter with a bunt single. Wendel settled down and struck out the next two batters.
The Cardinals had a chance to tie or even take the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Sarah Dwenger led off with a single through the left side of the infield. Ross stepped up and hit the ball back to Wendel, but the attempt to force out the lead runner was wild, leaving all hands safe. Olivia Thornton then reached on an infield single to load the bases with nobody. Wendel took control, striking out the next two batters before enticing Heitkamp to ground to second baseman Libby Grieshop to end the inning.
"Madison just bore down and wasn't going to allow anyone to cross that plate," said Ahrens. "Libby made a great play that inning. They got down to it and made plays."
"Couldn't get a bunt down," said Moeder. "Was trying to get a bunt down the first base line. Then it was just hoping one of the girls could get the ball into play where we could score a run."
The Cavaliers added an insurance run in the top of the seventh. Wendel and Steinke led off with back-to-back singles with Schroyer bunting her teammates up a base, setting up Avery Knapke's groundout to first to score Wendel. In the bottom of the seventh, Wendel got her 12th strikeout of the game before getting back-to-back groundouts to end the game.
Both teams are back in action today. Coldwater travels to St. Marys while New Bremen hosts Versailles in a rescheduled MAC contest.
