Junior standout Harmony Laker drilled a clutch walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday to power Wayland to a 7-6 victory over Byron Center in a battle of two teams with impressive overall records.
Byron Center, Division 1 school, entered the contest with a gaudy 17-4 record and Wayland’s was even better at 22-4. In the end, the Wildcats improved to 23-4 with the come from behind triumph. It was their 19th straight win since rebounding from the awful bad day at Bailey Park,
The visiting Bulldogs had taken a 6-5 edge in the top of the seventh, but Lauren Wright singled home one run before Laker delivered a two-run double.
Laker also emerged as the winning pitchers. She came on the fifth inning and went three innings,
Sophomore Madi Ludema started and pitched four innings, yielding four runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out three. Laker gave up two runs on two hits, walker one and fanned three.
Highlighting the offense were Carli Miklusicak and Kayee Lown hitting doubles and Laker and Lown both had two of Wayland’s eight hits.
Though the Wildcats are undefeated and in first place in the O-K Gold Conference standings, they will face a stern test Monday when they take on South Christian, which has absorbed only one defeat in league play.