The Wayland varsity softball team bounced back Saturday from a shocking season opener by taking all the marbles at the Whitehall “Lakeshore Slam” Invitational.
The Lady Wildcats, who absorbed a rare mercy defeat at the hands of Byron Center Thursday, swept three opponents to win the trophy. They beat host Whitehall in the opener, 11-1, blanked Zeeland East in the second round, 9-0 and got past Muskegon Oakridge 4-2 in the championship game. Oakridge had been ranked ninth in the state.
Coach Cheri Ritz used three different pitchers in the three ballgames. Sophomore ace Harmony Laker was the winning pitcher in games one and three. Freshman Maddi Ludema and junior Carli Miklusicak combined on the shutout over Zeeland East.
Laker yielded just three hits, walked four and struck out 11 in the finals. Offensively Reese Veltman delivered a double and a single and Ludema and Kami Morse both came up with a couple of singles. Laker and Ludema both drove in two runs.
Laker delivered the big blow against Zeeland with a homer and Ludema smacked a double. Ludema threw five innings to pick up her first varsity win and Miklusicak faced the minimum of six batters in her two innings of relief.
Lauren Wright had three hits for the Lady ‘Cats and Ludema, Kaylee Lown and Liberty Laker had two hits apiece.
Harmony Laker threw five innings in the opener, yielding one run on three hits and striking out 10.
Ludema, Liberty Laker, Wright and Rae Stallard had a double and Harmony Laker added a triple. Izzy Johnson collected three hits.
The Wildcats now are 4-1 overall for the season.
