CWS Sports Desk
June 16, 2012
Raczek plays a big role in Pacelli’s state championship.
UPDATED: June 16, 7:26pm
Madison– They say that good pitching will beat good hitting any day of the week. Just don’t tell that to the Pacelli Cardinals softball team.
The Cardinals got to one of the state’s premiere pitchers, Poynette’s Kirsten Tomlinson, early and often, capitalized on six Poynette errors, and avenged a 4-0 loss in last year’s championship game to the Pumas to claim the 2012 Division 3 State Championship at Goodman Diamond in Madison. The final score of the contest was 8-3.
The hero for Pacelli was catcher Emily Raczek, who was 3-4 with an RBI. Raczek made a number of stellar defensive plays to prevent the Pumas from repeating as state champions.
Pacelli fell behind 1-0 in the first inning to the #1 ranked Pumas, but rebounded on a Raczek RBI to tie the score at 1-1 at the end of the first.
Poynette broke through for two more runs in the third inning when Tori Blumenstein hit a 2 RBI single to give Poynette a 3-1 lead.
Pacelli tied the score in the bottom of the fourth, due in part to an Amy Miskowski RBI single.
Poynette committed four errors through four innings to help out the Cardinals.
Pacelli broke the game wide open in the fifth inning on a Danielle Hoover RBI single, followed by a Alicia Wimme RBI single.
The Cardinals added two more runs in the sixth with a Raczek run-scoring single and Wimmer 2 RBI single to give Pacelli a 8-3 lead against Tomlinson, one of the great pitchers in Wisconsin this year. The Cardinals scored all three sixth inning runs with two outs.
Pacelli pitcher Cassie Nelson got stronger as the game progressed. She struck out Tomlinson– a very dangerous hitter– in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the win for the Cardinals.
Pacelli banged out 14 hits in the game to Poynette’s 7. Poynette also committed 6 errors. For Pacelli, Danielle Hoover and Emily Raczek both had 3 hits. Hoover scored 4 runs. Alicia Wimme, Sami Kay Shafranski, Amy Miskowksi and Anna Lensmire each had two hits for the Cardinals. Wimme led the Cardinals with 3 RBI.
Offensive Stats:
LOB: Pacelli 9, Poynette 9
2B: Poynette– Falk, Blumenstein
SB: Pacelli– Hoover
Pitching:
WP: Nelson
LP: Tomlinson
SO: Nelson 3, Tomlinson 4
