Lake Mills softball struggles against No. 2-ranked North Union

By Tyler Julson

LAKE MILLS — The Lake Mills Bulldogs knew they were in for a tough game Monday night as they hosted the No. 2 Warriors of North Union. The Bulldogs struggled to find any momentum and lost to the Warriors, 11-0.

Starting at pitcher for Lake Mills was junior Jade Gasteiger, who struck out two batters during her time at the mound and was relieved in the sixth inning by senior Hailey Borgmeyer.

It seemed at the end of the first inning that the Bulldogs would be able to hold their own against the Warriors. Lake Mills retired the first three batters of the game with little trouble.

However, in the second the Warriors woke up their bats and scored two runs in the inning. Base hits by Rory McClellan and Hope Steinberger were what gave North Union the two-run advantage.

The lone hit of the ballgame for Lake Mills came in the second inning from junior Mallory Wilhelm. Aside from Wilhelm’s hit, the Bulldogs put on just two more baserunners throughout the rest of the game. Walks by Borgmeyer in the second inning and Megan Groe in the sixth inning accounted for the other two baserunners.

A two-shot home run by North Union’s Kyarsten Mullen and an RBI single from Shawna Person set the Warriors on top 5-0 at the end of the third.

Headed into the sixth inning, it looked like the Bulldogs might be able to at least keep the Warrior scoring to a minimum. However, North Union widened the lead even more, adding six more runs to their total.

RBI base hits from Maddie Rolling and Steinberger and a three-run home run by Kate Anderson put the Warriors in the lead 11-0.

Although Lake Mills gave up 15 hits, it played the entire game mistake free, recording zero errors on the night.

The Bulldogs will try to bounce back from the loss when they travel to Buffalo Center on Wednesday to take on the Bison of North Iowa.