LITTLE RIVER, SO. CAROLINA - Second year pitcher Kendall Weik really enjoys pitching along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. After breaking the school record for strikeouts with 15 in a game during last year's trip to SC, the righthander from Fifield, Wisconsin, now has back-to-back starts with double-digits K's after setting down a season-best 11 batters in an 11-3 victory over Alpena Community College on Saturday. Madison College followed up the win with a 7-3 decision against Florence-Darlington Technical College to give the team a 6-0 start, which surpasses the 5-0 mark to begin the 2021 campaign. (Madison College did open the 2020 season with eight straight wins before it was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.) Both wins came in the first meetings all-time with the Lumberjacks and Stingers.

Game #1: Madison College 11, Alpena Community College 3 (6 innings)

Weik improved to 3-0 on the young season after holding the Lumberjacks to three runs, two of which were earned, on five hits and three walks over six innings. She fanned two batters in each of the first and second innings before the WolfPack took a 3-0 lead. Freshman Cora Nelson singled to drive in Maya Dzick for the game's first run. Fellow first year Hanna Stremkowski then came through with a two-out bloop single to right that was good enough to plate Nelson and Emily Bopes.

Three more runs in the bottom of the third doubled the Pack's lead. Nelson, a Francis Creek, Wisconsin, native lofted a sacrifice fly to center and freshman Shelby Brooks raced in to score. Then Dzick and Bertina Dodge both crossed home as Bopes grounded a single through the left side.

Alpena got on the scoreboard in the fourth, using a walk, a triple, and an error to make it 6-2. They closed the gap to 6-3 in the fifth with one run on two hits and a walk. 

In the home half, Dodge reached on an error and eventually scored when Nelson's productive day continued with a RBI-single to left. A bases loaded walk of Raegen Schwarz added another run before Weik helped her own cause with a single to left that drove in Stremkowski.

Madison College closed out the run-ruled win early with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Stremkowski picked up a run batted in with a ground out to short that plated Dodge, and an error on a Tristen Young ground ball ended the game when Kaley Koltz touched home.

The WolfPack set a new season-high for hits for the second straight game, piling up 13 in the win. Stremkowski, a Stevens Points, Wisconsin, native, collected a career-best four hits and three runs batted in, while also scoring a run. Nelson added three hits and three RBI as career-high efforts, while also crossing home once. Weik also added multiple hits and a run driven in.

Dodge, a product of Bowler, Wisconsin, was tops with three runs scored, while Dzick and Bopes each had two runs. Bopes, a freshman from Geneseo, Illinois, racked up two RBI, as well.



Game #2: Madison College 7, Florence-Darlington Technical College 3

The day's second game opened with a one-run top of the first inning for Madison College. A single, a walk, and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for Kendall Weik, who then drew a walk to force in Rylee Rogers for a 1-0 lead. The advantage grew to 3-0 in the second with a clutch, two-out triple down the right field line by Raegen Schwarz. Tailer Bartelt and Rogers raced around the bases to score.

Starter Brooke Steinhorst allowed the first run to the Stingers in the third after back-to-back singles set up a productive ground out to Tristen Young at second. Florence-Darlington then drew even at 3-3 in the fifth with two runs on one hit and two errors, the last of which allowed two runs to score.

The WolfPack responded in a big way, scoring four runs in the sixth to regain control of the game. Three singles filled the bases and walk issued to Schwarz gave Madison College the lead. Then Steinhorst gave herself and the team some breathing room with a bases-clearing double that scored Shelby Brooks, Ava Stahl, and Schwarz.

Steinhorst, a former Poynette HS athlete, improved to 2-0 as she held FDTC to one earned run over seven innings and six hits. She also struck out three batters. At the plate, Steinhorst was 1 for 4 with three runs batted in.

Schwarz also drove in a career-high three runs and scored another as part of a one-hit, two-walk effort. Bartelt led the WolfPack with two hits and two runs. Rogers also had a pair of runs scored.

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