By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
PULASKI – Behind the pitching of Ally Eden and the hitting of Eleanor Hoge, the Green Bay Preble softball team showed why it’s undefeated.
With the help of three Red Raiders’ errors in the first three innings, the Hornets (8-0 overall, 5-0 Fox River Classic Conference) clubbed their way to an 11-3 victory at Pulaski High School.
Eden pitched a complete-game, seven-hitter with six strikeouts, while the first baseman Hoge was 2-for-4 at the plate, including an RBI triple in the third inning.
“I simply wanted to do well for the team,” said the senior Hoge. “I felt confident at the plate because I have a supportive team behind me. (My triple) came off the bat nicely and felt good. This win gives us lots of confidence moving forward, but we don’t want to get too overconfident. Pulaski is one of our biggest competitors.”
Hoge’s blast to the right-center gap scored Brooke Hock, who had reached on a one-out error.
Hoge would later score on an RBI groundout by Eden to make it 4-0.
Preble had taken a 2-0 lead in the second inning after Melody Siudzinski was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on an RBI single by Ariene Kollman.
Kollman was plated when Gretchen Meier laid down a sacrifice bunt, and the ball was thrown wildly to first.
“You can’t give Preble the opportunities we gave them with our sloppy play in the first few innings,” said Pulaski head coach Billi Jo Vertz. “They’re too good. I was proud of how we fought and came back, though.”
Meanwhile, Eden kept the Red Raiders’ batters off-balance with her arsenal of pitches, despite having only one inning, the seventh, where she retired the side in order.
“Ally was consistent and accurate,” said Preble head coach Ron Metzler. “She wasn’t missing her spots and threw lots of different pitches. Often, when I hear pitchers say, ‘I have five or six good pitches,’ I know Ally is one of those pitchers.”
The Hornets added to their 4-0 lead in the fourth inning.
Madi Whitney led off with a single, was sacrificed to second by Kollman and scored on an RBI single by Ava DeBaker.
DeBaker eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0, before Ashley Wolfe, who had drawn a two-out walk, crossed home plate on an RBI single from Hock.
The Red Raiders scored single runs in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to make it 7-3, but Preble batted around in the seventh, scoring four more times to cap the night.
Whitney, Kollman and Meier had RBI in the marathon inning.
“We can’t say we’re a better team than Pulaski yet,” Metzler said. “We know they’re a good team and well-coached. The better of two teams is the one that does better during the season, so we’ll have to see after we play them again. We did well today. We don’t think of our 8-0 record as much. We’re happy to be at this point, though. We have some tough teams coming up.”
Pulaski starting pitcher Morgan Vertz gave up seven runs but also had two hits at the plate, including a double in the sixth.
Ashlyn Szymanski, Peighton Agamaite, Olivia Kubiak, Nya Matuszak and Meghan Molthen also had hits for the Red Raiders.
In addition to Hoge, DeBaker and Whitney both had two hits for the Hornets.