Penguins qualify for State softball tourney

PIERCE — A busy and successful week propelled the Hartington 18U Penguins to a 5-7 record and a berth in the Class C Nebraska 18U Girls’ Fastpitch Tournament in Hastings early in July.

The Penguins ended up fourth in District 8 held in Pierce June 7-9 where they went 2-2 after winning a couple of regular season games before the district tournament.

“Our pitching is good enough to win, our fielding is good enough to win but our batting is not near good enough to win,” Hartington coach, Brice Grutsch said. “We’ll be working on that as we move forward with our season and prepare for state. If we can figure the hitting out, we’ll be a pretty good team.”

Due to when the State Class C Tournament will be held, Grutsch and company opted to go Class D for state to accommodate player’s schedules which conflicted with the Class C dates.

The Penguins will travel to the USA Softball of Nebraska Complex in Hastings July 12-14. The Class C tournament is scheduled for the weekend before Class D.

The lack of offensive firepower was evident in the Penguins last game of the district tournament as they fell 14-1 to Wausa to finish fourth.

“The top half of their line up hits well and we did not hit well at all,” Grutsch said. “We probably walked a few too many in the last inning which made the score get pretty lopsided.”

Hartington pitching walked five Viking batters in the fifth and final inning after issuing only two walks in the first four frames.

Wausa scored four runs in the first inning while Hartington answered with a single run in the bottom of the first, which ended up being the lone run the Penguins scored in the game.

Hazel Hochstein scored the run after getting on base with two outs on an error by the Vikings.

She advanced to second on the play on another error by Wausa to get herself in scoring position.

Another error on a hard ground ball from Makenzie Vaughn hit to the shortstop chased Hochstein home and left Vaughn standing on first.

The inning ended on a fly ball back to the pitcher.

Wausa added a couple of runs in the second and one in the fourth before ending the game in the fifth with seven runs and the game was called by a run-rule after the Penguins failed to score in the bottom of the fifth.

Hartington used an early-game explosion of its own in the game prior to the Wausa game with six runs in the bottom of the first against Verdigre.

Verdigre had scored in the top of the first before the Penguin’s bats came to life.

“We got up on them early then held on to win,” Grutsch said.

The Penguins plated six runs in the bottom of the frame to take an early 6-1 advantage.

Ford opened the Hartington half of the first with a walk followed by a Blair Wakeley single which moved Ford to third.

Wakeley stole second base and Ford used a double-steal to score the Penguins’ first run.

Hochstein singled to right field but was out trying to stretch the single into a double. Wakeley scored on the play however to give Hartington its first lead of the game.

Makenzie Vaughn walked then Nora Lange singled to the right side of the Verdigre infield. Aelxys Vaughne steppefd to the plate with two outs and promptly deposited the ball into center field on a line derive for a double, scoring two runs.

Olivia Grutsch got the ball past the second baseman to put runners at the corners, still with two outs.

Grutsch stole second before Hadley Vaness rifled a ball into right field to score a couple of runs for a 6-1 lead.

Verdigre scored a run in the second but a walk, a dropped third strike and an error scored a couple of Penguin runs in the bottom of the frame.

Emilie Claussen smacked a line drive up the middle scoring Nora Lange and putting Hartington up 9-2 heading into the third.

Back-to-back singles by Vaness and Ford opened the Hartington third, but a pop out and a couple of strikeouts ended the threat.

Verdigre added two runs in the fifth, but the damage was done as the time limit ended the game in the top of the fifth.

In the Penguins’ second game of the tournament, the NCN Lightning out of O’Neill sent Hartington to the consolation bracket with an 11-1 win.

The Hartington hitting woes were evident in the contest as Lightning pitching held the Penguins hit less in the game.

The Lightning was a really solid team with a pitcher we just couldn’t catch up to,” Grutsch said. They hit the ball well too. They are just a well-rounded team.”

Despite being no-hit, the Penguins did manage a run in the final inning when Olivia Grutsch got aboard after being hit by a pitch.

Grutsch stole second as Vaness walked then stole third with Ford at the plate. She eventually scored on a wild pitch but the game ended on a run-rule when the inning ended.

Hartington jumped on Wakefield in the opening round with five runs in the bottom of the first after Wakefield opened scoring with a run in its first at bat.

“It was a nice win to beat Wakefield,” the coach said. “We hit enough early on and held on for the win.”

Ford got on base with a walk and stole her way around the bases for a score before Wakeley blasted a single up the middle.

Hochstein walked then Vaughn doubled into left field sending Wakeley home and Hochstein to third.

Hochstein scored on a Nora Lange ground out to make it 3-1 and after a strikeout which gave the Penguins two outs, Hahne slapped a double to left field to score Vaughn.

Vayda Lippert came on to run for Hahne and stole third base.

Grutsch walked and then Vaness singled past second base scoring Lippert. A strikeout ended the inning with Hartington in front 5-1.

Hahne was in the circle in the game and struck out the first two Wakefield batters in the second before allowing three consecutive walks.

She got out of the jam by getting the batter to ground back to her to end the Wakefield threat with three runners left on base.

Wakeley singled to open the second and advanced to second when Hochstein walked.

Wakeley stole third and home and Hochstein scored on a ground ball back to the pitcher after stealing second and third.Nora Lange would score later in the inning to make it 8-1 heading into the third.

Wakefield would score a run in the third and two in the fourth but the Penguins prevailed by the 8-4 final score when time expired in the game.

Earlier in the week, before the district tournament, Hartington defeated Randolph 12-4 in and Verdigre in Verdigre 11-1 on June 4.

“Randolph was a young team so we got some young girls some playing time in that game,” Grutsch said. “And the Verdigre win was the best we have hit the ball all year.”

The Penguins will continue to work on hitting as they welcome Wakefield to Hartington June 11 and head for Randolph on June 13.

W 420 17X X - 14 7 3 H 100 00X X - 1 1 4 WP: UK LP: Alexys Hahne. 2B: A. Sporeader (W). Hartington Penguins defeat Verdigre 9-4. WP: Alexys Hahne LP: UK. 2B: Alexys Hahne (H). NCN Lightning defeats Hartington Penguins 11-1. N 105 32X X - 11 9 0 H 100 00X X - 1 0 0 WP: UK LP: Alexys Hahne. Hartington Penguins defeat Wakefield 8-4. W 101 2XX X - 4 4 0