Wildcats edge Flyers

MINSTER - Minster pitching ace Jenna Poeppelman may have been late getting to Four Seasons Park on Tuesday evening for the MAC softball matchup with Marion Local, but the senior dominated once she took the rubber and helped the state-ranked Wildcats win 3-1 over Marion Local on Tuesday.

"Due to some weird circumstances, Jenna Poeppelman was in Columbus today and couldn't get back for the start of the game," Minster coach Robb Hemmelgarn said. "We told the girls before the game what was going on and it was next man up."

Minster starter Laney Hemmelgarn kept the Flyers off the scoreboard for the first three innings but got into trouble in the fourth inning. Poeppelman entered the game with runners on second and third base and one out. She walked Brooke Hartings to load the bases before Olivia DeMange blooped one between Poeppelman and the left side of Minster's infield. Third baseman Lindsey Albers made the fielder's choice putout at third base, but Sam Pierron scored from third base with the tying run.

Poeppelman then walked Hailey Wilker to again load the bases before striking out Ava Rose to end the Marion Local threat. Poeppelman allowed a couple more walks, but did not allow another Flyer hit and struck out the last five Flyer hitters to record the win.

"For having a 10-minute warm-up and then being told 'You are going in,' she didn't do bad," Hemmelgarn said. "Both pitchers did what was expected of them tonight and everybody else stepped up."

While Hemmelgarn and Poeppelman were shutting down the Flyer offense, Marion Local freshman Ashlyn Bohman was doing the same to the potent Minster offense. Two key defensive plays by shortstop Rachel Partington helped the freshman hurler.

After Kaitlyn Wolf led off the second inning with a double, Partington snared a line drive by Hemmelgarn and beat pinch runner Savanah Bergman back to the bag for a double play. Two innings later with runners on second and third and nobody out, Karly Richard ripped a line drive that again Partington caught and this time tagged Danielle Barhorst before she could get back to the bag. Bohman got Taylor Homan to then fly out to center field to end the inning.

"Our freshman really did a good job out there. She moved the ball around and kept them off balance," Marion Local coach Jerry Moeller said. "Our shortstop made a couple of really nice plays to help her out and get us out of the trouble a couple innings."

With the game tied at one, Wolf led off the bottom of the sixth with her second double of the game and then moved to third base when Hemmelgarn singled to center field. Poeppelman then drove a fly ball to left field to score Wolf with the go-ahead run. Then with two outs, Emily Stubbs ripped an RBI single to center field to give Minster a 3-1 lead.

"Kaitlyn Wolf is really coming into her own. She is replacing a four-year starter behind the plate and doing a solid job there and now she is really starting to hit and gives us a nice one-two punch with Taylor Homan in the middle of the order," Hemmelgarn said. "She got a big hit to start the sixth inning and we were able to do just enough. Give them a lot of credit, Bohman really kept us off balance and their shortstop made a couple of really nice plays to keep us off the board."

Poeppelman then struck out the side in the seventh to wrap up the Wildcats' 15th consecutive win to start the season and move them to 3-0 in MAC play.

"We played a really good ball game, we just could not get the big hit when we needed it," Moeller said. "(Poeppelman) kind of had us where she wanted us and got us to swing at a couple high pitches. They are undefeated for a reason and made the plays when they needed to."

Marion Local drops to 5-9 overall and now stands 1-3 in the MAC.

Minster will travel up State Route 66 on Thursday to battle for first place in the MAC with rival New Bremen. Marion Local returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Jackson Center in a non-conference battle.