Raider softball wraps regular season with 30-7 record

The final week of the regular season for the Williamsburg softball team was another one filled with quality opponents as the Class 3A No. 1 Raiders faced three more ranked teams in classes above them.

SPLIT WITH CLIPPERS

Williamsburg split a WaMaC Conference doubleheader against Class 4A No. 13 Clear Creek Amana Monday, June 26, at Oxford.

Coach Adam Berte’s Raiders won the opener 10-0 in five innings as senior Peyton Driscoll pitched a seven strikeout, one-hitter.

Williamsburg pounded out 14 hits, including two each by Carly Rich, Rylie Metz, Alley Gorsh, Makenna Hughes, Shannon Finn and Elle Ridgeway. Ridgeway homered and drove in three runs, Rich and Hughes each doubled, scored twice and drove in one run, and Metz, Finn and Jenna Thurm had one RBI apiece.

A pitcher’s duel in the nightcap between the Clippers’ Kyla Schulte and the Raiders’ Jersey Metz went to CCA, 2-1.

Both right-handers gave up five hits and struck out two. Schulte walked seven batters but Williamsburg couldn’t capitalize, stranding each of those base runners.

Finn’s RBI single in the third inning gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead, but the Clippers tied the game and took the lead in the fourth, fueled by Aeslyn Massey’s solo home run.

RICK DORAN CLASSIC

Williamsburg won two of four games in the Rick Doran Classic Friday and Saturday, June 30 and July 1, at Iowa City.

The Raiders were upset by unranked Central Lee in their first game of the tournament Friday, 4-3.

Jersey Metz held Central Lee to three hits and struck out seven, but the freshman didn’t receive much defensive help as Williamsburg booted the ball five times leading to three unearned runs.

Jersey Metz helped herself at the plate with two hits and one RBI, Taylor Pitlick added a pair of base hits and Rylie Metz chipped in an RBI double.

The Raiders bounced back from that loss to beat Class 5A No. 4 Muscatine for the second time this season, 5-1.

Driscoll went the distance in the circle, improving her record to 14-2 and lowering her ERA to 1.04. She held the Muskies to five hits and struck out four.

Three of Williamsburg’s five runs came on RBI singles by Ridgeway, Driscoll and Baylie Von Ahsen.

Saturday, the Raiders lost 4-2 to 5A No. 9 Pleasant Valley, and beat unranked Mid-Prairie 7-1.

Pitlick had Williamsburg’s lone hit against Pleasant Valley, a seventh-inning two-run single, spoiling a no-hitter and shutout by Spartans sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Merkel, who struck out six Raiders.

Williamsburg swung the bats better against Mid-Prairie, totaling 12 hits, highlighted by a pair of solo home runs by Ridgeway. The senior slugger has been on a tear as of late, and it couldn’t have come at a better time with the postseason beginning this week.

In 11 of her last 14 games, Ridgeway has hit six of her 11 home runs and driven in 21 of her 45 runs.

Gorsh, Pitlick and Thurm also had two hits apiece for the Raiders against Mid-Prairie, and Hughes and Jersey Metz singled to drive in runs.

Jersey Metz got the win, scattering five hits over seven innings and striking out a season-high 10 to move to 13-4 on the year.

TOURNEY TIME

With the regular season completed and a 30-7 record under their belts, Williamsburg will begin its bid for a fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament in a Class 3A Region 5 quarterfinal at home Thursday, July 6, against Union, La Porte City (5-14).

The winner advances to the regional semifinals Saturday, July 8, at Williamsburg against Hampton-Dumont (7-16) or Garner Hayfield-Ventura (6-17). The regional finals are Tuesday, July 11.