West Bend, WI — By Steven L. Tietz Daily News Correspondent WEST BEND — On Monday night, West Bend West pitcher Lindsay Sandleback got a swing and a miss for the third strike against Hartford’s Lauren Voss, then catcher Mia Buske picked up the dropped pitch and threw it over to first baseman Ava Thelen to secure the final out in the Spartans’ 4-3 victory over the Orioles. And with that routine piece of execution, West’s girls softball team locked down at least a share of the North Shore Conference title, their first such league crown since 1990 back when they were in the now defunct Wisconsin Little Ten. It was a moment the Spartans celebrated. “It’s just surreal, it’s been so many years,” said the junior Sandleback, who scattered seven hits with seven strikeouts and no walks. “It’s so hard to describe, to come back with this group and then get this done, win conference.” Senior outfielder Eleanor Henschel, who tripled with two out in the sixth, and then scored the eventual winning run on sophomore Breleigh Ustruck’s single up the middle, was equally amazed. “This is so very exciting,” she said. “We’ve just gotten along so well. We had talked about this (potentially clinching conference), but we didn’t know how we’d react if we did it. We tried to be careful, tried not to get too nervous. “We didn’t want to jinx it.” The Spartans, who won their 12th game in a row, didn’t jinx anything as they improved to 15-2 in North Shore play and 16-4 overall, while Hartford, which had the same opportunity for NSC glory as West did going into the contest, fell to 14-3 and 15-5 overall. West can clinch the title outright championship when it heads to Grafton (317) Tuesday at 4 p.m. It’s a point that Spartan coach Ken Dischler wanted to emphasize with his elated Spartans in the moments after the victory. “This is good group, very talented, but we’re not done yet,” he said. “We want to be sure of it, we want to win it outright.” For Hartford, which had finished in a tie for second with Slinger behind champion Cedarburg last season, it was a disappointing loss. “We had talked about this opportunity,” said Orioles’ coach Dave Hoxworth. “There were three or four teams at the beginning of the season that had a chance and we thought it would come to us and West.” This tense outcome was dramatically different than what happened on April 24, when the Spartans started their winning streak with an 18-6 thumping of the Orioles. Hoxworth had thought tonight’s game would be high-scoring, but that proved not to be case. “Both teams have such very good hitters,” he said. “I didn’t think the pitchers would control things, but they did.” Visiting Hartford struck first in the top of the first as Lauren Voss singled and eventually scored on a combination of mistakes by the Spartans that included a stolen base, a passed ball and an errant throw to third base. “Inexcusable,” said Dischler. The Spartans were even more frustrated in the bottom of the first when Buske doubled to lead off the frame, eventually moved to third but was then stranded when Orioles pitcher Brooke Voss got a pop-up and two shallow flyouts to end the inning. West finally tied the game in the fourth as Thelen led off with a single, moved to third on shortstop Paige Guse’s double and then scored on a fielder’s choice dribbler to first by Mackenzie Rolf. But with Spartan runners on first and third and only one out, Brooke Voss prevented further damage with a soft pop-up to herself and a strikeout. “Brooke did a nice job settling in, really staying tough,” said Hoxworth. But the Spartans finally reached her in the fifth as Buske singled and then Sandleback’s bunt was dropped by the Hartford first baseman to put runners on second and third with one out. Thelen made the Orioles pay for that mistake with a booming double to rightcenter that scored both runs and gave West a 3-1 lead. However Hartford did not flinch, coming back to tie the score in the top of the sixth. Sophomore Cassidy Klebsch and freshman Alivia Fischer both singled. Then Dischler elected not to face the NCAA D1 University of Evansville commit Brooke Voss and so intentionally walked her to load the bases. Senior Sierra Loosen made the Spartans pay for that slight by ripping a tworun game-tying double to left-center. The Orioles still had runners on second and third with only one out, but like Brooke Voss had done a few innings earlier for Hartford, Sandleback settled down and got a strikeout and a flyout to end the threat. “I really give Lindsay credit for keeping it at 3-3,” said Dischler. It looked like Brooke Voss was going to make that tie hold up until at least the seventh by getting the first two outs in the West half of the sixth. But then Henschel came up and coaxed a soft looping line-drive down the first baseline that took a favorable Spartans bounce. By the time the Orioles got it back into the infield Henschel had slid safely into third. “The moment it left my bat I was thinking third,” she said. And that put Ustruck firmly in the spotlight with a big opportunity and she welcomed it. “All I was thinking was ‘base hit, base hit, base hit,’” she chuckled. “Just get it in play.” And when she did the Spartans had the lead which Sandleback kept intact. Orioles senior Alayna Pusch opened the seventh with a single, but then Sandleback got a flyout to center, a comebacker to herself and that big strikeout to secure that long awaited league title. Hartford, which still has an outside chance at a share of the league title should it beat Port Washington Tuesday and West lose to Grafton, got four strikeouts and one walk from Brooke Voss. West got two hits from Thelen and three from Buske. Dischler could not hide his smile afterwards as he thanked a higher power. “God’s got a plan,” he said, “and his plan for us was to win a conference title.” As for Ustruck, she and the rest of the Spartans want the fun to continue. “I’m having a blast,” she said. ”I’m so proud of this team. So happy that we made this happen.” Link to original article: https://westbenddailynews-wi.newsmemory.com/?publink=1853aaaf6_134ab98&fbclid=IwAR2mUT5MD6ZoKRMQc8fEKUrpoRHuarQOQyJ_NSMvuDZpRSNojLNXY5L0rVg