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Craig falls short in Big Eight finale, Parker falls to Beloit

JANESVILLE — Sun Prairie High School’s fourth-inning rally sent host Janesville Craig to a 5-4 loss Tuesday in a Big Eight Conference softball regular-season finale.

Craig concluded the Big Eight season 12-6. Sun Prairie finished 14-3.

The Cougars took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the Cardinals exploded for five runs on six hits, including Hanna Running’s two-run homer, to take a 5-2 lead.

“They just hit the tar out of the ball,” Craig coach Dan Bayreuther said. “Sun Prairie is a good hitting team.’’

Sun Prairie collected 12 hits off Craig’s Paige Weber. Craig had eight hits off Running, including a 3-for-3 effort from Stephanie Perleberg.

Leigh Grall cut Craig’s deficit to 5-4 with a two-run homer in the sixth, but Grall was denied in the seventh.

With Cougar runners in scoring position in the seventh, Grall hit a line drive. The shortstop made a leaping catch to end the threat.

“We were an inch away from winning the game,” Bayreuther said.

Craig hosts Fort Atkinson at 5 p.m. Thursday to conclude the regular season.

SUN PRAIRIE 5, CRAIG 4

Sun Prairie 000 500 0—5 12 0

Janesville Craig 200 002 0—4 8 1

Running and Huemmer; Weber and Sullivan.

Leading hitters—Kanak (SP) 2x4, Rodenkirch (SP) 3x4, Peterson (SP) 2x3, Bayreuther (JC) 2x4, Perleberg (JC) 3x3. 2B—Rodenkirch (SP), Scott (SP). 3B—Kanak (SP). HR—Running (SP), Grall (JC).

SO—Running 3, Weber 5. BB—Running 3.

-- Beloit 7, Parker 5—Errors have plagued the Vikings all season, and Tuesday was no different.

Parker committed five more errors in losing its Big Eight and regular-season finale.

The Vikings led 3-1 in the top of the third thanks to Kayce Chesebro’s two-run single, but the Purple Knights scored four times in the fourth to take the lead for good. Back-to-back Parker errors keyed Beloit’s four-run rally.

“That definitely hurt us,” Parker coach Jenni Seisser said of the errors in the fourth. “We probably should’ve been out of the inning.

“We outhit them and put the ball in play, but that one bad inning hurt us again.”

Jackie Ludois, Chesebro, Ashley Ross and Andrea Roeber each had two hits for Parker.

Parker finished the regular season 4-18, including 4-14 in the Big Eight.

BELOIT 7, PARKER 5

Janesville Parker 030 000 2—5 9 5

Beloit Memorial 111 400 x—7 7 2

Ross, Muehlenkamp (5) and Henke; Schultz, Parish (7) and Cornell.

Leading hitters—Ludois (P) 2x4, Chesebro (P) 2x4, Ross (P) 2x4, Roeber (P) 2x4, Fisch (B) 2x3. 2B—Chesebro (P), Ross (P).

SO—Muehlenkamp (P) 2, Schultz (B) 3. BB—Ross 2, Schultz 3.