Sattler powers Chilton past Howards Grove

CHILTON – Riding the hot bat of Abby Sattler, Chilton shook off a shaky start and rallied for a 13-5 nonconference softball win over Howards Grove Friday afternoon at the Chilton Elementary School diamond.

Due to the recent snowfall, Chilton’s regular varsity diamond was unplayable forcing the move to their former home. The game was Howards’ season debut. Chilton improved to 3-0.

Sattler had a career day. She went 4-for-4 with eight runs batted that included a pair of home runs. She belted a solo homer in the opening inning and then blasted a grand slam in the fourth inning with two out that gave the Tigers their first lead of the game at 8-5.

“She was at a hitting camp during the off-season and you can see how much she’s improved at the plate,” said Chilton head coach Wayne Pagel.

Things did not get off to a good start for Chilton. Pitcher Emily Maurer struggled with her control. She walked four and allowed three hits as the Tigers pushed across four first-inning runs. Lexi DeRuyter’s tworun single was the biggest blow. That scored Amber Reinemann and Steph Bergman.

Maurer gradually got things under control and the Chilton offense got things going scoring in every inning except the second. Megan Fritz and Rachel Woelfel each added two hits to the attack.

A four-run sixth inning sealed the win.

Tiger head coach Tom Heier saw a lot of positive things from his squad.

“We are a very young team going up against a veteran team in Chilton coming off a conference championship and they have most of that team back,” Heier said.

“We have no seniors and just four juniors. We showed some patience at the plate early and that led to our early lead.”

SOFTBALL
HOWARDS 5
GROVE
CHILTON	13

Score by Innings
How. Grove….………410 000 0 – 5 6 1
Chilton…………….…202 414 x – 13 10 3
___2_B_s_ –_ H__ow__ar_d_s_ G_r_o_v_e,_ B_r_it_ta_n_y_ R_o_oker; Chilton, Kelynn Sporer. HRs – Chilton, Abby Sattler 2.