By Greg Bates
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – There might not be a better hitting softball team in Wisconsin than Green Bay Preble.
The Hornets came into their Fox River Classic Conference game Tuesday, May 18, against De Pere averaging 12.1 runs per game.
The Preble girls had another field day at the plate, collecting 12 hits – three of them home runs – in a 9-0 victory over the Redbirds at the Finger Road Softball Complex.
The Hornets, the No. 1-ranked team in Division 1 in the latest WFSCA/WisSports.net Coaches Poll, have now scored nine or more runs in 13 of its 14 games this season.
“We emphasize hitting, and we hit lots year-round,” 10th-year Preble head coach Ron Metzler said. “We’re deep at hitting. Some years, you have six you can count on; this year we have nine, and I don’t know if we’ve ever had nine this deep.”
Six of Preble’s 12 hits against De Pere went for extra bases and six players collected hits in the win.
“Honestly, you can’t go wrong anywhere in our lineup,” said Preble shortstop Ashley Wolfe, who stroked two home runs. “Everyone can put a bat on the ball. Everyone can bunt. Everyone can move runners around. Overall, we’re a great hitting team.”
Pitcher Ally Eden threw a gem for the Hornets.
She allowed one hit and three walks while striking out six.
“Everything was working today,” Eden said. “When I know I have that defense behind me, it makes pitching easier.”
De Pere head coach Matt Eakin was impressed by what he saw from Preble.
“Ally pitched well,” said Eakin. “It seemed where we were hitting it – we call them ‘atoms’ – we were hitting them right at them. Their defense made some great plays. It was a good 9-0 game. I’m OK with it.”
Preble (14-0) got a leadoff home run from Wolfe to get things started.
Brooke Hock and Eden followed with singles and both scored on a three-run home run to straight-away center field by Mel Siudzinski to make it 4-0.
Eden started the third inning with a single and scored on a triple by Siudzinski.
Madi Whitney then drove home Siudzinski on a sacrifice fly and Preble was up six runs.
The Hornets added single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth, highlighted by another Wolfe long ball.
“I saw it out of her hand,” Wolfe said. “I saw it was getting into the zone and I knew I had to wait back and time it up.”
De Pere (7-7) had only four base runners all game and didn’t have any players advance past first base.
Wolfe said she could tell Eden was in a rhythm early in the game in the circle.
“When she’s hitting her pitches, it’s fun being right behind her,” she said.
Metzler said the defense is just as strong as the offense.
“The pitching and catching have been great all year, but the defense had some nice plays – both the infield and outfield shined,” said Metzler. “That’s what stuck out today.”
According to Metzler, his team hasn’t played a complete game this season – it most recently got two players back last week.
“We’re still piecing it together,” Metzler said. “We had one out again today. We’ve never played a perfect game. We’ve had some nice games, but I’m not trying to expect perfection out of people, because nobody can expect perfection. We’ve got a ways to go.”