WEST SALEM — A beautiful pitching performance was starting to slip away, but Josie Brudos had a chance to save it.
The West Salem High School junior held a team that was trying to win its 117th game since the start of the 2021 season hitless through five innings of a WIAA Division 2 sectional championship game on Thursday.
Jefferson leadoff hitter Hildie Dempsey and Aeryn Messman broke that up with consecutive one-out singles in the sixth before pitcher Ashlyn Enke stepped to the plate with a chance to deliver some damage to the Panthers.
Brudos moved the count to 1-2 and was a strike away from escaping trouble before leaving a pitch over the outer part of the plate in a spot she didn’t want it.
Enke turned a good swing into a two-run double down the right-field line that paved the way for the second-ranked Eagles to record a 6-0 victory.
“I missed my spot there,” Brudos said. “I was going for a rise more out of the zone, and she went out there and got it.
“It was a great hit. Credit to (Enke) for getting those two runs.”
After getting no hits through five innings, the Eagles (24-5) used four to score four times in the sixth, then added two more runs in the seventh to stop the Panthers (20-5) from extending a 13-game winning streak.
Enke and Dempsey held West Salem to two hits — one after a Brudos single in the first inning — and recorded a combined 17 strikeouts.
“I would have never thought that hitting would have been our downfall today,” said West Salem coach Brian Babiash, whose team has lost two sectional finals in the past three years. “We’ve hit so well the last month and a half, and the last three weeks has been hit, hit, hit, hit, hit.
“We hit for almost an hour before coming to the field today, too. Sometimes we’re a little over-anxious, and we weren’t able to sit back and handle that changeup from (Enke).”
Enke, a right-hander who will pitch at Northern Iowa next year, struck out 13 without walking anyone over the first five innings. Dempsey, a left-hander who will be an outfielder at the University of Arkansas next year, struck out four without a walk over the final two.
“(Enke’s) best pitch was her rise and she had major change in speeds,” Babiash said. “(Dempsey) brought everything hard, but everything was low and different eye angles.
“They do a great job with using those pitchers.”
The loss was West Salem’s first since April 26, and it had allowed 11 runs in its 12 previous games.
Brudos struck out seven, walked two and allowed five hits. She escaped trouble in the first inning after a leadoff error and stranded a runner at third base.
The Panthers knew the team that scored first would have a big advantage in this kind of pitching battle. They avoided that until Enke’s clutch hit in the sixth.
“It was fun,” senior catcher Megan Johnson said of winning 13 of the final 14 games of the season and just missing on a chance for the program to play in its first state tournament. “It means a lot.
“To go this deep into the season multiple times has been great.”
DIVISION 4
Stevens Point Pacelli 11, Melrose-Mindoro 0
NECEDAH — The Mustangs (21-4) only had two hits against the Cardinals — ranked first in Division 4 by state coaches — but were within 4-0 before allowing seven runs in the seventh inning.
First baseman Opal Buchanan and pitcher Emma Severson each singled for Melrose-Mindoro, which won the first regional championship in team history this spring.
everson sent her single to left field with one out in the fifth, and Buchanan hit one to left with two outs in the seventh.
The Mustangs won 10 of their final 12 games.
