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Alpena’s season-opening success

Wildcats open season with sweep of Boyne City

News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena’s Lizzy Heath (22) is congratulated by coach Paul Marwede after hitting a home run during the third inning in game one of a softball doublheader on Thursday at Alpena High School.

Starting off strong is what the Alpena softball program has been accustomed to and the Wildcats kept that trend going to open the 2017 season as they swept Boyne City on Thursday, 10-0 and 11-7.

“I thought for the first day out we did a lot of nice things. There were also some things that we can focus on once we regroup from the holiday weekend, but overall I was happy with our performance today,” Alpena coach Paul Marwede said.

The Wildcats cruised to a big game one victory thanks to the stellar debut from freshman pitcher Jade Schultz who dazzled the Ramblers offense, tossing five innings of shutout ball, while allowing just three hits and striking out 12.

Schultz had everything going early as she struck out 10 of the first 12 batters she faced and Alpena didn’t allow Boyne City to advance past second base.

Schultz had plenty of run support early as the Wildcats scoring started with Jessica Marwede hit a line-drive home run that got out in a hurry to spark Alpena’s offense in the first inning.

The Wildcats scored three more runs in the bottom of the second inning as Emily Vivian drove in a run and Emma Fraser doubled in two runs as Alpena did all of their damage with two outs in the inning as they collected three hits in a row.

In the home half of the third, Alpena scored four more times and again, all of the runs came with two outs. Lizzy Heath started the party with a solo home run of her own and the next five Wildcats all singled to reach base.

Vivian, Fraser and Taylor Kunath both had an RBI in the inning to extend Alpena’s lead to 8-0 after three before the Wildcats ended the game by mercy rule when they added the final two runs of the game in the fifth inning.

At the plate, Fraser went 3-for-4 with a double and four RBI. Kunath, Vivian and Schultz were all a perfect 2-for-2 and Heath and Marwede both homered.

“Jade over matched them early on and continued to pitch strong throughout the game and offensively we got off to a quick start with the first inning home run and continued to tack on runs afterwards, so I was very pleased,” Marwede said.

In the nightcap, Alpena fell behind by two runs early after Boyne City’s Katelyn Gabos hit a two-out triple to give the Ramblers the early lead.

The Wildcats quickly responded scoring five runs in the home half of the first as they took advantage of some Boyne City mistakes as Kunath and Schultz each collected an RBI in the inning.

The Ramblers cut the lead to one in the top of third inning when Emma Vondra blasted a two-run home run over the scoreboard in left-center field.

It was as close as Boyne City would get as the Wildcats scored five more runs in the bottom of the fourth as they batted around and got key hits from Kunath, Vivian and Schultz who all collected an RBI apiece in the inning.

Boyne City scored three more runs in the top of the fifth when Jade Bohling hit a two-run triple down the right-field line to cut the lead to 10-7, but it was the last time the Ramblers scored in the game.

Alpena added one more run in the home half of the fifth when Vivian layed down a perfect suicide squeeze that scored Lizzy Kendziorski and the Wildcats were able to hang on.

Fraser started the game on the mound and picked up the win, pitching 3 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on three hits and striking out five. Schultz finished the game and allowed three runs on five hits and struck out four more to finish her solid varsity debut.

At the plate in game two, Kunath and Vivian eached reach base safely all four times. Kunath had three RBI and Vivian drove in a pair. Kunath and Kendziorski also had two hits apiece.

Alpena starts the season 2-0 and will be back in action on Thursday when they host Sault Ste. Marie.

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.

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