Augusta, Eleva-Strum and Fall Creek nine have four or more wins so far

Defending Western Cloverbelt Conference champion Fall Creek won its first league game last week Tuesday, April 15 vs. Stanley-Boyd to improve to 6-4 overall. The win was the second in a row for the Crickets as they edged West Salem 3-2 back on April 12 at home as Avery Ludescher's RBI-single scored Kendyl Haynes in bottom of the 7th for the winning run. FC also topped Arcadia back on April 8 by a 13-4 score at Arcadia. FC's lone loss during this time period was at home on April 11 to Altoona by a 7-5 score. The Crickets' home contest on Thursday, April 17 was postponed until this Thursday, April 24 beginning at 5 p.m.

West Cloverbelt Conference Standings
(as of April 18)
Chippewa Falls McDonell 1-0
Fall Creek 1-0
Thorp 1-0
Cadott 1-1
Bloomer 0-1
Eau Claire Regis 0-1
Stanley-Boyd 0-1

In the Large Dairyland Conference, Melrose-Mindoro is atop the standings with a 5-0 record against league opponents so far, including a 3-0 win by the Mustangs over Eleva-Strum in a game played back on April 11 at Mel-Min. The Mustangs scored two key runs in the sixth and held E-S to just three hits, all singles while the Mustangs Hailey Hines had two of her team's five hits, including an RBI-double while teammate Opal Buchanan had two hits and an RBI-triple.

But Eleva-Strum is just a game-back of the Mustangs at 4-1, 4-2 overall going into upcoming non-conference contests this week at home vs. Clayton/Turtle Lake on Monday, April 21 at 5 p.m. and at Arcadia the following day. The Cards beat Independence/Gilmanton at Indy 6-2 on April 8. E-s plated two insurance runs in the top of the seventh to expand a 4-2 lead before the Indee Panthers last at bats. Winning pitcher Ruby Bartholomew struck out 15 batters and the Cards got two doubles from Maddea Brown and two RBIs from Adelyn Jaskowski. Central also beat Tri-County Area rivals, Augusta on April 14 by a 5-1 score at AHS and Osseo-Fairchild 6-1 at home on Tuesday, April 15. Against the Beavers, Bartholomew struck out 12 batters to get the win while Brown went 2-for-3 aty the plate with an RBI, Olivia Norby had two hits and Terris Quick drove in two runs. Laney O'Brien led August with two hits. Versus the Thunder, the Cards plated three runs in the first and fourth innings.

O-F, 2-6 overall, bounced back after the loss to Eleva-Strum with a 10-7 win at Whitehall on Thursday, April 17 for its second DC win in its firts year back. A much needed win too as the Thunder had lost three in a row after beating Independence/Gilmanton on April 11 by a 7-5 score at home as winning pitcher Brylie Johnson pitched a complete game and did not give up an earned run to be named WHTL 102.3 FM's Player of the Game. They were swept in a tournament at Onalaska Luther on April 12, losing to La Crosse Aquinas 8-3 and to the host Knights 19-1. The Thunder were helped by four Norse errors despite giving up 12 hits. The Thunder host Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran on Tuesday, April 22. This will be ther lone match-up between the two teams as Large Division teams play their Small Division counterparts only once this season.

One of the Thunder's losses in the last two weeks was a 10-0 blanking at Augusta back on April 8. Brooklyn Kruger led the Beavers were a perfect 3-for-3 performance at the plate with four RBIs. R. Bethke hit an RBI double and S. bergman had two hits and drove in a run for AHS Winning pitcher Brooklyn Krueger struck out 10 batters and held the Thunder to just two hits. She is in the top three in the league so far in hits and RBIs. Augusta, 4-4 overall, also beat Whitehall 11-1 on April 11 but also lost at home to Mel-Min 13-2 on April 15 and Stanley-Boyd in a non-conference contest on Thursday, April 17 by an 8-2 score. AHS takes on another Western Cloverbelt team, Cadott, at home on Monday, April 21 and then is at Blair-Taylor, leader of the Small Dairyland Conference on Tuesday, April 22.

Large Dairyland Conference Standings
(As of April 18)
Melrose-Mindoro 5-0
Eleva-Strum 4-1
Augusta 3-2
Osseo-Fairchild 2-3
Whitehall 1-4
Independence/Gilmanton 0-5