Essig shuts out disrupted Hanska team

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- The Essig fastpitch softball team shut out Hanska 8-0 in an odd game in which Essig played a jumbled up Hanska team at Harman Park for Bi-County League Wednesday.

Hanska played two games Wednesday, first losing 17-9 to Stark in Hanska, then losing to Essig in New Ulm later in the evening. They played with a very different team than the four games they won earlier in the summer. Six regular Hanska players, two of them pitchers, were gone -- two at a national tournament.

"I think they would have been tougher competition [with the missing players], but we went out there and showed them we could beat them," first baseman Melissa Kraus said. "It would have been kind of nice to play the whole team to show that we could beat them."

"Our dynamics were completely different. It was a different team -- we'd never played with them before," said Hanska coach Kristi Anderson, whose team is now 4-2. "I think they were a little frustrated, but we were just glad we had enough to play."

Hanska stretched their squad by pulling a few players up from lower levels, like 12-year-old Rebecca Loose, and asked Kayla Farasyn to pitch. Farasyn had not practiced pitching for four years.

"She did incredible -- she played a great game. I was really impressed," Anderson said.

Farasyn struck out four batters, gave up six hits and two walks for eight runs.

Essig came up with four of those runs in the first inning.

Becky Hosna, Julie Seifert and Melissa Kraus all had singles to start off the game, and Stacey Stueber walked, all scored in the first inning.

Two more runs came in the second when Katie Gieseke had a leadoff double, scoring when Angela Seifert got on base on error. Angela Seifert scored on a Mandy Domeier hit.

The last two runs scored in the third and sixth innings when Stacey Stueber walked and scored on a Hanska error, and Kraus had a base rap, scoring on a Gieseke sacrifice.

Julie Seifert pitched five innings for the three-hitter, striking out five and walking two. Katie Stueber pitched the last two innings.

"They pitch real good, not just in pitching, but they are good kids too -- really easy to coach," Essig coach Ron Domeier said. "It was a good game. The girls played well again.

"They all come from good programs [New Ulm, Cathedral and MVL], and they all learned well at the schools they come from," he said.

The leading hitter for Essig, which has a 7-0 record, was Kraus, who was 2-for-3. She also caught two fly balls at the fence.

"Katie [Gieseke] said I had enough room; I hit the fence and caught the ball -- I kind of bounced off, but I caught the ball," Kraus said.

Wednesday's game was just the second of seven in which Essig did not 10-run their opponent.