A tremendous season for the Algoma Wolves softball team came to an end last night at UW Madison's Goodman Diamond. The WIAA Division 3 state semi-final was broadcast on WRLU 104.1 FM. A 6-4 loss to the Poynette Puma's was nothing for the Wolves to hang their heads about. The defending state champions, Poynette, rode the hot hand of WIAA Division 3 state player of the year Kirsten Tomlinson. Her five strikeouts gave her a total of 211 K's on the season.
Algoma committed five errors in total and made a few base running blunders to allow the Puma's to capture the hard fought victory. The Wolves scored a first inning run when Meg Ryan belted an RBI single scoring Courtney Dart. Algoma plated two more runs in the fourth inning to tie the game at 3-3. Meg Ryan and Tanika Jorgenson each scored in the fourth frame.
The wheels fell off for the Wolves in the bottom of the fifth inning, however. Committing three errors in the bottom half of inning number five created to big of a deficit even for the comeback kids to recover from.
A valiant seventh inning rally plated Algoma's final run to bring the score to 6-4. Poynette did just enough to keep the Wolves grounded in a fantastic game played in extreme heat. The game time temperature was 92 degrees.
Meg Ryan and Courtney Dart led the way for Algoma at the plate. Each had two hits, an RBI and a run scored. Dart pitched a stellar game for Algoma. She finished with four strikeouts to cap a career that included three Packerland Conference Player Of The Year Awards.
The loss also signaled the end of an eight year marriage to the softball program with Coach Terry Dart. Coach Dart will transition into a role with the baseball team next season after coaching his daughter through her high school career.
Kaylee Pieschek, Courtney Dart and Amanda Mura will be sorely missed next year but optimism reigned through even after the loss at state. A great nucleus returns for the 2012 softball campaign and Algoma feels they have to attend to some unfinished business next year.
