Red Hawk softball finishes week 1-3

A dominant win over Onalaska last Monday was the highlight of another busy week for the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau high school softball team.

The Red Hawks (4-6 overall, 2-3 Coulee Conference) handed Onalaska a 13-6 thrashing on Monday at home before dropping a trio of tight contests to other area teams to close the week. Conference foe Luther snuck past the Red Hawks 1-0 last Tuesday before Coulee leading Westby escaped with a 6-3 win on Thursday.

The week ended with an 8-5 loss to Aquinas on Friday. 

An even busier week awaits G-E-T this week, one that starts with a trip to Blair-Taylor on Monday and is followed with a home game against West Salem on Tuesday. Black River Falls comes to town on Wednesday and a trip to Viroqua is on the schedule for Thursday.

G-E-T 13 Onalaska 6

After the first inning ended with a 3-2 G-E-T lead, the Red Hawks busted Monday’s game open over the next several innings.

The Red Hawks closed the deal with seven runs over the final three innings as four different G-E-T batters finished with at least two hits.

Ellie Cox led G-E-T with a 3-hit performance, and teammates Shayna Kirkey, Tatum Johnson and Haley Giemza each added two hits apiece.

Three Red Hawk pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts while allowing 14 hits over seven innings, and Samantha Stanton picked up her first win of the season.

Luther 1 G-E-T 0

A single run on an error in the top of the first inning was the difference in last Tuesday’s conference loss to the Knights (7-4, 4-2 Coulee).

Kirkey got the start for G-E-T and held the Knights to just one hit while tossing eight K’s. Her counterpart in Luther’s Hannah Matzke also showed well, limiting G-E-T to five hits while striking out five batters.

Caroline Mack and Johnson each hit a double for the Red Hawks.

Westby 6 G-E-T 3

A late comeback bid and double-digit hits weren’t enough for the Red Hawks to overcome an early deficit to the Norse in last Thursday’s home game.

Westby, the current conference leaders with a perfect 6-0 record (9-1 overall), took a 4-2 lead into the seventh inning before adding two insurance runs.

The Red Hawks got runners into scoring position multiple times in the later innings but couldn’t bring home a run until finally getting one back in the bottom of the seventh inning. Westby closed the game two at-bats later with a fly ball to center field.

Halene De Jager led a scrappy effort from the Red Hawks with three hits, and Kirkey contributed a pair of her own while allowing eight hits and striking out 10 from the mound.

Aquinas 8 G-E-T 5

It was the host Blugolds that put on their rally caps to hand G-E-T its third loss of the week on Friday.

Aquinas (2-9, 0-5 Mississippi Valley Conference) faced a 5-2 deficit with just two at-bats remaining on their home field when they stunned the Red Hawks with a 6-run inning and the win in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Kirkey, Cox and Giemza each had two hits, with Cox (double) and DeJager (triple) contributing extra-base hits.

Stanton and Kirkey combined for three strikeouts and two walks.