Red Hawks beat Logan, Augusta to wrap up regular season

In their last two tune-up games before the playoffs, the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau softball team went on the road and came away with a pair of non-conference victories.

G-E-T (15-7) put the finishing touches on the regular season by defeating La Crosse Logan and Augusta ahead of Memorial Day weekend.

If the third-seeded Red Hawks take care of La Crosse Aquinas at home in the WIAA Division 3 regional semifinals, they’d advance to play either No. 2 seed Prairie du Chien on the road or No. 7 seed Viroqua/Youth Initiative at home in Thursday’s regional finals. The winner of that game goes onto next Tuesday’s sectional semifinals.

G-E-T 14 LC Logan 10

In a game defined by innings with crooked numbers, it was G-E-T who had the last big rally to beat the Rangers (6-18) in extra innings last Monday in La Crosse.

The Red Hawks surged ahead in the top of the first, scoring four runs with two outs on a Caroline Mack RBI single, a Kennedy Scow RBI double and Tori Thoma’s two-run single.

Once Logan tied the score, G-E-T struck again with a six-run rally in the sixth. Four runs scored on a trio of Ranger errors and the last two came home on a Mack double.

The Rangers pulled off an improbable comeback by scoring six runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh to force extras. However, the Red Hawks got the last laugh by scoring four runs with two outs in the top of the eighth. After taking the lead back on a run scored on an error, Scow added an exclamation point with a three-run blast to center.

Scow helped lead the way by going 3 for 5 with a homer, a double, four RBIs and three runs, Mack went 3 for 5 with two doubles, three RBIs and two runs, Thoma finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored and Halene De Jager was 3 for 5 with a double and three runs.

G-E-T 7 Augusta 2

Early runs and a strong pitching performance from Samantha Stanton were the fuel for a G-E-T win over the Beavers (14-9) this past Thursday in Augusta.

Kennedy Scow’s RBI double and a run scored on an error in the top of the second gave the Red Hawks an early 2-0 advantage, followed by an eruption of five runs in the third inning that featured Caroline Mack’s RBI single and Tori Thoma’s two run knock.

Augusta scored twice in the bottom of the seventh, but it proved too little, too late to start a comeback bid.

Stanton allowed just one unearned run on one hit and three walks while striking out three in 6 1/3 innings. Halene De Jager got the last two outs in relief while also surrendering an unearned run.

Seven different G-E-T batters had a hit in the win.