Hamilton Wrapup: April 24

Sussex - It was a wild game, but the Hamilton girls softball team found a way to come out on top Friday afternoon at Wauwatosa East.

The Chargers and Red Raiders softball teams combined for 30 runs, 33 hits and 14 errors in a 17-13 Greater Metro Conference victory for Hamilton.

Hamilton scored once in the second and third innings, twice in the fourth, eight times in the fifth and five times in the sixth innings.

Seven players had at least two hits for the Chargers. Kelsey Mason went 3 for 3 with two runs scored and two doubles. Katie Weber went 3 for 5 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBIs. Sydney Sprinkel went 3 for 5 with a double and a triple. She was also the winning pitcher, spending five innings in the circle before giving way to Emily Jansen and Tori Meyer in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively.

Bailee Bobert, Jenny Shernell, Sami Williams and Whitney Wnuk all had two hits for Hamilton.

Chargers overwhelm WAC

The Hamilton girls softball team clobbered West Allis Central, 16-1, in a Greater Metro Conference game on April 17.

The game lasted just five innings due to the National Federation 10-run mercy rule. Hamilton scored five runs in the top of the first inning, two in the second inning, two in the fourth inning and seven runs in the top of the fifth.

Sprinkel pitched all five innings for Hamilton. She allowed two hits, four walks and no earned runs.

Jansen had three hits and two RBIs for the winners. Shernell had three hits and four runs scored for Hamilton (3-1 overall and 2-0 in the GMC).

Bobert, Kelsey Mason, Sprinkel, Taylor Vigani and Williams had one hit each for the Chargers.

Goecks leads golfers

Hamilton's golf team finished in 15th place at the Beaver Dam Invitational on Saturday. Twenty-six teams took park.

Nathan Goecks had the best score of the day for Hamilton, finishing 10th individually at 82.

Austin Kendziorski shot 87 and Nate Hermsen ended up with 88.

The Chargers took third in the Greater Metro Conference mini meet Monday at Westmoor in Brookfield.

Milwaukee Marquette won the meet and Brookfield Central finished second. After two meets, the Hilltoppers and Lancers are tied for first place in the conference standings.

Goecks led the Chargers with 37. Kendziorski carded 42.

Soccer looking up

Hamilton's girls soccer team is learning on the run these days. Forced to replace 80 percent of its offensive firepower from a year ago, the Chargers have multiple players in new positions and new players everywhere else on the field.

However, the transition has gone well. With two more victories this past week, the Chargers are 4-2 heading into a crucial five-game stretch over the next 12 days.

The Chargers defeated West Allis Central in a Greater Metro Conference match on April 17, 7-0. On Feb. 19, Hamilton traveled to West Bend West and defeated the Spartans, 1-0.

Kara Bednarek, Rachel Elliott and Robyn Elliott each scored twice for Hamilton in the victory at West Allis Central. Hannah Menzia had the other goal against the Bulldogs.

Robyn Elliott had three assists. Hannah Menzia and Bednarek each had one assist for the winners.

Rachel Elliott scored the goal for Hamilton in the victory over the Spartans.

Head coach Tom Konkol said the team's overall playmaking has been there from day one, and everyone's been contributing to the cause during the first month of the season.

"Brooke Menzia is playing a defensive midfield position for us, and truthfully she's doing everything we could expect of her," Konkol said. "Anna Marie Zuzick and Hannah (Menzia) have done an excellent job on defense. Robyn White and Dani Fotsch have also made us a better team already this season."

Meghan Anthony, playing in her third season, has held her ground in goal.

The Chargers play at Kettle Moraine (4-0) on Friday.

On Saturday, Hamilton hosts Milwaukee Lutheran in a nonconference game.

"We're coming together," Konkol said. "I'm happy with the way things are progressing with the entire program."

Track team hosts invite

The Hamilton boys and girls track teams hosted their annual Hamilton Invite on April 18.

In the girls meet, the Chargers finished in second place with 88 points. Brookfield Central won the five-team meet with 106 points, and New Berlin West was third with 83 points.

The Lancers tied Waukesha North for bragging rights in the boys meet. Each team scored 103 points. Hamilton was third with 71 points. New Berlin West and New Berlin Eisenhower rounded out the field.

Toney Lock won the 100-meter dash in 12.97, Jess Rupnow won the 400 in 1:01.09 and Jennifer Janusz won the discus throw at 94 feet, 11 inches.

The pole vault also belonged to the Chargers, with Shannon Burke winning at 10-6 and Nicole Zeman finishing second at 8-6.

Amanda Bernarde was second in the shot put at 29-9.

In the 4x800-meter relay, the Chargers finished atop the heap at 10:18.81, with Hannah Jeffers, Shannon Downs, Ashlyn Paulson and Katie Pollari in the mix. The Chargers won the 4x400 in 4:11.67 with Ellen Buckley, Paulson, Pollari and Rupnow.

"The Charger Invite went very well," Hamilton head girls coach Ben Nysse said. "The meet ran smoothly thanks to all the JV support and numerous Hamilton staff members who came to work the meet."

Nysse said the season is progressing well for the Chargers.

"The girls are getting hungry for the conference part of the season, and the JV is happy to have a meet every week so their work can show itself in competition," he said. "The season has been a bit of a struggle, but the girls are confident with our training it will yield results in mid-to-late-May."

Fotsch wins twice

Joel Fotsch won the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 16.96 and the triple jump at 38 feet, 5 inches. Ernie Gray finished second in the 100 at 11.69. Chais Blackburn was second in the 300 hurdles at 43.50, just ahead of Mike Spankowski. Nick Patterson won the long jump at 20 feet.

Unfortunately, Patterson suffered an injury this week, and his immediate status is uncertain.

"Nick pulled his hamstring; hopefully he only tweaked it, but either way we'll be extremely cautious with him," Hamilton head boys track and field coach Eric Murray said.

Murray liked the efforts of Dan Demler, Aaron Mushall and Corey Parris. Parris was fifth in the 100 and sixth in the long jump.

"Some of these guys have shown their willingness to step up anyway possible. These kids all compete each time out, and it's great to see them progress," Murray added.

Tennis battling inexperience

The Hamilton boys tennis team, inexperienced at this point, lost against Milwaukee Marquette on April 17 in a Greater Metro Conference match, 6-1. The victory came at No. 1 singles with Aaron Beck, who topped Dan Sladky, 6-0, 6-0.

Beck ran into state-level players on Saturday in Jake Diesler of Mukwonago and Chace Roecker of Kettle Moraine. Beck lost both matches, 6-2, 6-1 and 3-6, 6-3, 10-6.

Michael Banda earned victories against Kettle Moraine and Mukwonago in singles action.

"Our fortunes improved for the last match of the day as we faced Sheboygan South," Hamilton head boys tennis coach Alan Schneider said.

The Chargers won that dual, 6-1. Beck, Tim Smith, Prateek Reddy and Banda won their matches, and doubles winners included Clayton van der Linden and Dan Baker at No. 1 and Cody Neverman and Tad Wiesneski at No. 3.

Attitudes remain positive, even though Hamilton will face extremely tough competition on a regular basis the rest of the way.

"As I stated earlier, I was predicting a rather difficult season with the addition of six new players to the varsity squad," Schneider said.