By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (May 15, 2025) – For two and a half innings, Evergreen looked as if they were sleepwalking against visiting Ottawa Hills, trailing 1-0.
That’s when complacency turned to angry as Lanae Manz and Avah Vaculik homered on back-to-back pitches in the third to give the Vikings a lead, and they never looked back for a 10-1 win in a regular season matchup.
The Bears got an unearned run against starter Evy Shrader in the second on an error, a single by Sam Brandstetter and a ground out, but from that point Shrader and reliever Alex Paulson put down 14 straight hitters.
Leading off the bottom of the third, Manz hammered a drive far over the left field fence to knot the game 1-1, then one pitch later, Vaculik lined one over the center field fence to give the Vikes the lead for good.
Evergreen didn’t stop there as they tacked on four more tallies in the fourth. Leah McVey started the rally with a one-out single, then Manz followed with an RBI double off the base of the wall in left, Shrader marked her with a ground out, Megan Clancy drove in another with a double to center and Lauren Valentine capped the uprising with a run-scoring single to center.
McVey’s squeeze bunt brought home Riley Studenka, who single and motored around to third on a throwing error in the fifth to make it 7-1.
Studenka and McVey each had RBI singles in the sixth in a three-run inning. Shrader allowed just two hits and struck out two without issuing a walk. Paulson walked one and gave up one hit in three scoreless innings of work.
OHHS 010 000 0 – 1 3 5
EHS 002 413 x – 10 14 2
Records: OHHS 4-15, EHS 5-15
WINNING PITCHER: Shrader (4 innings, 2 hits, 1 run, 0 earned, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts) Other: Paulson
LOSING PITCHER: Lampkowski-Sowle (6 innings, 14 hits, 10 runs, 7 earned, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts)
LEADING HITTERS: (Ottawa Hills) Puskala – double; (Evergreen) McVey – double, 2 singles, RBI, 2 runs; Shrader – double, RBI; Manz – home run, double, 2 RBIs, 2 runs; Vaculik – home run, RBI, 2 runs; Clancy – double, 2 singles, RBI