Busy week for DeForest Softball

To say it was a busy week for the DeForest Norskies softball team may even be an understatement.

From Tuesday, April 7, through Monday, April 13, the Norskies embarked upon a grueling stretch: five games in less than one week.

In that stretch, the Norskies went 1-4. They defeated Edgewood and dropped contests to Milton, Tomah, Beaver Dam and Waunakee.

With an abundance of results and intriguing storylines to sift through, the week began against a pair of Badger-Large opponents: at Waunakee on Tuesday, April 7, and versus Beaver Dam on Thursday, April 9.

DeForest fell 11-0 to the Warriors and 10-3 to the Golden Beavers.

Against Waunakee, the Warriors held DeForest to just three hits, shutting down the Norskies in five innings. Against Beaver Dam, the Golden Beavers used an eight-run inning in the top of the fourth to gain separation from DeForest.

However, DeForest wouldn’t have much time to waste or hang its head. Thanks to a quick turnaround, they took on a doubleheader against Tomah and Edgewood on Saturday, April 11, at the DeForest Athletic Complex in Windsor.

The Norskies began the doubleheader by battling Tomah, where they fell 8-4.

DeForest totaled six hits and surrendered just one error; however, a six-run top-of-the-second inning from the Timberwolves was all they needed to defeat DeForest in the first game of its doubleheader.

Leading DeForest at the plate was senior Vie Miller, who delivered a team-high two hits, including a triple.

Despite the loss, the Norskies made sure to end their doubleheader on a high note — doing so vehemently.

Thanks to 16 combined hits as a team, the Norskies dispatched the Crusaders by a final score of 14-9.

Interestingly enough, the Norskies scored one run or more in every inning.

Fueling DeForest at the plate was its senior duo of Raegan Smith and Reagan Oughton. Both Smith and Oughton went a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, scoring seven runs combined.

DeForest, who trailed 4-0 at the end of the first and 6-2 going into the bottom of the second, meticulously chipped away at its deficit.

Inning by inning, at-bat by at-bat, its deficit grew slimmer and slimmer before they took their first lead of the game, 10-9, in the bottom of the fifth.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Norskies scored four runs — fueled by a pair of singles from Smith and Oughton with a double from junior Natalie Towns sandwiched in between — to add insurance before closing down the Crusaders in the top of the seventh.

Sophomore Sophia Bruno got the win for DeForest. She pitched four innings, allowing five runs (one earned) with three strikeouts. Reagan Oughton finished the game tossing two scoreless innings, giving up just one hit.

DeForest’s five-game stretch concluded on Monday, April 13, with a 9-4 loss to the Milton Red Hawks.

Despite trailing 6-0 going into the bottom of the third, the Norskies’ bats came alive, thanks to long-ball heroics from senior Raegan Smith.

A pair of walks would put runners on third and second; however, DeForest was down to its last out of the inning.

That didn’t seem to bother Smith.

In other words, she wasn’t going to let that inning come to an end, because on her very first pitch, she struck a shot deep into left field for a three-run home run.

DeForet senior Raegan Smith batted a perfect 4-for-4 during the Norskies’ 14-9 win over Edgewood on Saturday, April 11, before hitting a three-run home run in DeForest’s 9-4 loss to Milton on Monday, April 13.

Precisely, it proved to be just the spark the Norskies needed.

Next batter up, junior Bailey Nicholson, delivered a single before senior E’Mony Hardiman hit a one-run double, bringing home Nicholson, to cut DeForest’s deficit to just two runs, trailing 6-4.

However, it would be the last run the Norskies would score, where they ultimately lost by five runs.

Next up for DeForest, the Norskies will host Oregon on Thursday, April 16, at 5 p.m., before hosting Watertown on Friday, April 17, at 6 p.m. On Saturday, April 18, they will head over to Sun Prairie West to partake in a quad, with Hudson, Marshall, and Sun Prairie West listed in attendance.