HOME RUN BARRAGE … Kailee Thiel unloads one of her three home runs on the night as Bryan opened league play with a 10-3 win. (PHOTO BY RICH HARDING, STAFF)
By: Nate Calvin
BRYAN – Bryan’s Kailee Thiel needed just one game to tie the school record for most home runs in a season as she crushed three over the fence and drove in five runs to carry Bryan past defensding league champion Wauseon 10-3.
Bryan freshman pitcher Thea Staten sent the tone early for the Golden Bears by striking out the first nine Wauseon batters and RBI singles from Mylie Vollmer and Reese Grothaus in the second inning gave Bryan a 2-0 lead.
Thiel would lead off the bottom of the third with her first homer of the day, a solo blast over the center field fence to extend the lead to 3-0.
DeWitt and Vollmer then reached base before a Grothaus grounder was misplayed at shortstop, allowing DeWitt to score to make it 4-0.
A walk to Ella Voigt loaded the bases for Bryan and led to a pitching change for the Indians as Kendall Horner came in to replace Wauseon starter Ella Hageman.
Horner was able to escape the jam by inducing a groundout to second base by Josey Arnold to keep the score at 4-0.
Wauseon would get their first baserunner in the fourth inning on a two-out Ava Kovar walk but Aubrianna Everly would line out to Thiel at first base to end the inning.
With one out in the fifth, Thiel went long again with another solo blast to increase the lead to 5-0.
Two singles sandwiched around another Wauseon error led to an RBI groundout by Vollmer to make it 6-0 and Dewitt later scored on a passed ball as the lead ballooned to 7-0
The fifth inning saw Wauseon crack the scoreboard starting with Ella Albright reaching on an error and Elley Ward smacking a single to left to give Wauseon their first scoring opportunity of the game.
Horner then delivered a single to left with two outs scoring Albright and Ward after an error by the left fielder to make it 7-2.
Bryan would end the Wauseon momentum though in the bottom of the fifth as Arnold walked, Staten singled, and Thiel drilled home run number three on the night to put the game out of reach at 10-2.
Besides Thiel’s three hits, DeWitt had three singles, and Vollmer added two singles and two RBIs.
Staten again dominated in the circle allowing just two hits while striking out 13 in six innings of work.
Wauseon was paced at the plate by two singles from Ward while Horner singled and knocked in two runs.
WAUSEON 000 020 1 – 3 3 4
BRYAN 022 330 x – 10 14 4
Records: Bryan 7-0 (1-0 NWOAL), Wauseon 2-6 (0-1 NWOAL)
WINNING PITCHER: Staten (6 innings, 2 runs, 0 earned, 2 hits, 13 strikeouts, 1 walk) Other: Nagel
LOSING PITCHER: Hageman (2.2 innings, 4 runs, 4 earned, 8 hits, 3 strikeouts, 1 walk) Other: Horner
LEADING HITTERS: (Wauseon) Ward – 2 singles; Horner – single, 2 RBIs; (Bryan) Thiel – 3 home runs, 5 RBIs, 3 runs; DeWitt – 3 singles, 3 runs; Vollmer – 2 singles, 2 RBIs; Grothaus – 2 singles; Voigt – 2 singles
Nate can be reached at sports@thevillagereporter.com