The Wautoma Hornets will head out on the road to take on the Amherst Falcons at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Wautoma has given up an average of 9.4 runs per game this season, but Friday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.
Ripon hit Wautoma with a eight-run fifth inning on Thursday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Hornets came up short against the Tigers, falling 12-2. The Hornets have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Amherst). They blew past Weyauwega-Fremont 21-3 on Thursday. With that victory, the Falcons brought their scoring average up to 7 runs per game.
Sam Nooyen made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She struck out eight batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits (and only one walk). Nooyen was also big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBI and one double. That's the most hits she has posted since back in April of 2025.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Jackie Nooyen, who went 2-for-3 with two triples, three runs, and three RBI. Those triples marked the first that she has hit this season. Another player making a difference was Calee Schulist, who went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, three RBI, and two runs.
Amherst was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .486. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.
Amherst is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games. That's provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.5 runs on average over those games. As for Wautoma, their loss dropped their record down to 5-8.
Wautoma skirted past Amherst 2-1 when the teams last played back in June of 2022. Will the Hornets repeat their success, or do the Falcons have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
