Beavers Top 20 Wins With Busy Week

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor

  WILTON — A busy week that saw the Wilton softball team play eight games in five days had a big reward at the end. The Beavers topped the 20-win mark for the second straight season, something that hasn’t been done since the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The Beavers improved to 21-14 with six wins last week. The Beavers joined four other RVC teams with 20 or more wins and are the fourth River Valley Conference South team out of the seven South schools with 20 wins. The 21 wins also are added to head coach Kortney Denkman’s record and that total now sits at 96, four away from reaching the 100-win mark.
  Wilton also improved to 12-6 in the River Valley Conference. The Beavers posted a winning record in the RVC for the second straight year. Wilton also had a record of 12-6 in RVC play last summer.

Beavers Split With Liberty High School
  WILTON — The Wilton Beavers hosted the newest school in the state of Iowa. Liberty High School in North Liberty began varsity play this season. They will join the Mississippi Valley Conference in the 2018-19 school year. The Lightning have played four other RVC schools this summer. They were Camanche, Mid-Prairie, Monticello, and Northeast. Liberty had a record of 3 wins against 4 losses in those seven games. They entered the Wilton doubleheader with a record of 11-15.
  The Beavers would split with the Lightning, fallin 8-3 in the first game and winning game two 4-1.
  In game one, LIberty rallied from a 3-1 deficit to take the win. The Lightning scored seven unanswered runs after trailing 3-1, including five runs in the top of the seventh to secure the win. Kara Maiers was the winning pitcher after working seven innings and striking out ten batters. Maiers also led at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a RBI.
  In game two, WIlton never trailed in a 4-1 win. The Beavers scored once in the first before LIberty tied the game with a run in the fifth. Wilton took a 2-1 lead with a run in the bottom of the fifth and put the game away with a two-run sixth.
  Mila Johnson was the winning pitcher after seven innings of work where she gave up five hits, one run and struck out three batters. Wilton had six hits in the game, led by Kortney Drake who was 3-for-4. Peyton Souhrada had a hit and RBI whild Emily Coss added a double and Annabel Grings had a single for the other Beaver hits. Chloe Wells and Lexi Maurer each had RBI’s.
  Liberty had only seven hits in the loss. Maiers was 2-for-3 with a double and Ashlyn Geasland had two hits in the loss. Kinsley Robertson took the loss after working six innings and striking out seven batters.

Beavers Sweep Golden Hawks At Home
  WILTON — Playing in their fourth straight home games, the Wilton Beavers swept RVC South foe Mid-Prairie. The Beavers won game one 7-4 and won the second game, 16-6 in five innings.
  Late runs by Wilton in the fifth and sixth innings gave Wilton a 7-4 win over Mid-Prairie in game one. The Golden Hawks led 4-0 before the Beavers scored seven unanswered runs. Wilton cut the Golden Hawk lead to one, 4-3 after the fourth. Two separate two-run innings were next as Wilton took a 7-4 lead after six innings.
  Wilton had 10 hits in the game led by Kortney Drake, Chloe Wells, Taylor Garvin and Lexi Maurer all with two hits. Drake had a double and 3 RBI’s and Garvin had a RBI.
  Mila Johnson was the winning pitcher after seven innings. She struck out six and walked two.
  Game two was crazy. Wilton jumped out to an 8-0 lead, after scoring in each of the first four innings including three runs in the second and fourth innings. Mid-Prairie then pushed six runs across the plate in the top of the fifth to get within two of the Beavers, 8-6.
  In the bottom of the inning, Wilton had a big inning of their own, scoring 8 runs to take a 16-6 lead, and end the game by the 10-run mercy rule. Wilton sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning. RBI hits came from a 3-run double by Peyton Souhrada, a 2-run Kali Miler single and RBI singles from Chloe Wells and Karlie Schult.
  Wilton had a season high 21 hits in the ball game. Eight players had multi-hit games. Chloe Wells was a home run away from hitting for the cycle in a 4-for-4 game. Wells had a double, triple and two singles and drove in two runs. Mallory Lange was also 4-for-4 and had a RBI and two stolen bases.
  Kortney Drake, Karlie Schult, Payton Ganzer, Peyton Souhrada, Emily Coss and Kali Milder all had two hits. Wilton had four doubles in the game. Milder, Schult and Ganzer all had 2 RBI’s. Drake added 3 RBI’s and Coss and Lange each had one RBI.
  Wells was the winning pitcher. She gave up six runs in five innings and struck out six batters.

Beavers Beat Cascade 7-5 In Cascade
  CASCADE — The Wilton softball team improved to 3-2 against River Valley Conference North opponents with a 7-5 victory at Cascade last week.
  Wilton scored first in the game with two runs in the first and added three in the second to take a 5-0 lead. That was enough to give Chloe Wells the pitching win. Wells went three innings and gave up three runs on three hits and struck out one batter. Mila Johnson pitched four innings in relief and struck out six.
  Cascade chipped away at the Beavers lead, setting the score at 5-4 after the sixth inning. However, a two-run seventh by Wilton gave the Beavers a 7-4 lead. Wells connected on a two-run home run in the inning.
  Wilton had eight hits led by Wells wand Kortney Drake with two hits each. Wells finished with 3 RBI’s and Drake had a double. Taylor Garvin, Emily Coss, Mallory Lange and Alexis Walker had hits.

Beavers Split With Ranked West Liberty
  WILTON — The Wilton softball team beat 13th ranked West Liberty last week in game two with the Comets to earn a RVC split at home.
  In game one, Chloe Wells and West Liberty’s Emma Martin pitched a great game. Wells took the loss after giving up only one hit and one run. She struck out five batters in seven innings. Martin struck out five, walked two and scattered four hits.
  Wilton had four hits in the game and were led by Kortney Drake who was 2-for-3. Karlie Schult and Wells had the other hits. Schult and Kali Milder reached base via walks. West Liberty scored the games only run in the top of the fifth.
  In game two, Wilton came away with a 5-4 win. Mila Johnson pitched all eight innings and got the win. She struck out two, walked one and gave up eight hits.
  Karlie Schult, Peyton Souhrada, Mallory Lange and Kali Milder each had two hits while Taylor Garvin, Chloe Wells, Emily Coss and Johnson each had hits.
  Janey Gingerich started for the Comets and pitched four innings. Emma Martin pitched 3 1/3 innings and took the loss. Haylee Lehman led West Liberty at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBI’s.
  The two teams battled all night. West Liberty led 2-1 after the second inning and 4-1 before the Beavers scored twice in the fourth to set the score at 4-3. Wilton tied the game at 4 with a single run in the sixth and won the game with a single run in the bottom of the eighth.

Beavers Win Fourth Game Against RVC North Foe
  WILTON — The Wilton Beavers won their sixth game in eight tries last week, beating RVC North foe Bellevue 5-2 last Friday. The Beavers scored three runs in the first and led 4-0 after two innings. Wilton answered Bellevue’s first run with another run in the fourth to set the score at 5-1.
  Mila Johnson was the winning pitcher after a complete game. Johnson struck out five, walked one and gave up three hits.
  Wilton was led at the plate by Mallory Lange, Emily Coss and Lexi Maurer with two hits each. Coss drove in two runs and Maurer one.