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ALPENA -- The Alpena High softball team got its season back on track after taking two important victories on Monday.
The Wildcats took on the Tawas Braves, winning game one with a final score of 10-5 and ending game two in a 22-7 mercy.
Alpena hit the ball incredibly throughout both games and showed off a variety of talented pitchers to defeat Tawas.
"We have a great group of hitters and pitchers this year and we played well in both games," Alpena coach Paul Marwede said. "There's definitely work to be done and we're going to take advantage of all the nice weather this week and get some practice in."
Although Alpena took massive wins in both games, the first game didn't start in the Wildcat's favor. A single from Kori Schaaf was then followed up by a two-run home run by Elise Klinger, giving the Braves a 2-0 lead.
Alpena's offense answered right back with four runs coming on three doubles. Marah Wisniewski hit the first double, scoring Emilee Modrzejewski. Macy Schram hit another double on the very next pitch, scoring Wisniewski. Avery Dubey finished the inning with a final double and then stole around the bases to score herself.
By the end of the first inning, the Wildcats were up 4-2.
The offense began to slow between both sides until the top of the third inning, when Tawas tied up the game at 4-4.
Schram and the Wildcats took that lead right back in the bottom of the third after a leadoff single. Schram proceeded to steal around the bases to regain the 5-4 lead.
Tawas tied it back up in the fourth after a walk from Ellary Warner, when she scored from a double by Khloe Barringer.
With the game tied up at 5-5, a triple from Modrzejewski and a sac-fly from Wisniewski put Alpena back in the lead.
The Wildcat's offense heated up once again in the bottom of the fifth inning. Maddy Bloom, Sydney Hitzelberger, Lanie Morgan, and Dubey all made it around the bases to secure Alpena the 10-5 win.
After a short break in between games, the Wildcat bats started to get hot. Modrzejewski and Izzy Edmonds both got on base to set up a three-run home run from Wisniewski. After that, Schram and Hitzelberger hit back-to-back doubles, scoring two to take the 5-0 lead.
The second inning was not any easier for the Braves. Alpena tacked on another four runs during the inning and extended its lead to 9-0.
Another two runs during the third inning put the Wildcats up double-digits and gave Alpena all the momentum it needed to finish off the game.
Despite the fact that Alpena was up 11 runs, a rough top of the fourth inning allowed Tawas to put up four runs.
The Wildcat's offense continued to dominate, however, and added another two runs to its total.
Even though it seemed like Alpena's offense was deemed to slow down, the fifth inning was phenomenal and the Wildcats couldn't get out.
Hitzelberger started the fifth off with a solo home run and the offense kept rolling behind her. Several walks led to a Tawas pitching change, but that didn't seem to matter at all for the Wildcats. Later that inning, after Alpena had already scored six runs, Hitzelberger crushed another home run, this time bringing in three runs.
Alpena closed out the game with a final score of 22-7 and took both games of the doubleheader.
Alpena plays Lake Orion on Friday.