MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (June 2–9)
WIAA D5 SOFTBALL: No. 2 Belmont 6, No. 1 Barneveld 5 (8 innings)
By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal
Braves Storm their way back to state tourney
BARNEVELD — The 2026 Belmont softball has had one obstacle in its way all season: The Barneveld Golden Eagles.
The #2-ranked Eagles beat the reigning WIAA Division 5 state champion Braves twice during the regular season — 8–7 on April 9 and 8–3 on May 1 — en rout to winning this year’s Six Rivers Conference title.
Both teams won regional titles two weeks ago and collided in the most high profile D5 sectional semifinal in the state last Tuesday afternoon.
Senior designated player Storm Buss delivered the swing of her life when she belted a two-out home run over the left centerfield fence in the top of the eighth inning to lift No. 2 seed Belmont (22–6) to a thrilling 6–5 victory over the No. 1 seeded Eagles (22–7).
“Going into that at-bat Storm had seven hits on the year and her eighth one was pretty darn cool,” said long-time Belmont head coach Jeff Hodgson. “Storm is a kid that has played JV for three years and thought of nothing but the team during that time. I think this moment happened for her because hard work really does pay off.”
Buss has rotated in and out of the Belmont batting lineup this season as the Braves’ designated player and part-time outfielder batting .176 (6-for-34) with one homer and seven RBI in 13 games entering postseason play, but got the starting nod for both Belmont playoff games.
“I just decided that for the tournament, Storm is a senior and we are going with her because it means more to her and she will always battle for us.”
In Thursday’s sectional final, Buss was hitting for freshman Zoe Wedig, who starts in left fielder for Belmont.
Buss’ game-winning round-tripper (just the second of her career) was the Braves’ fifth long ball of the game, with all six Belmont runs scoring via the home run.
“The wind was blowing out for both teams and both pitchers are rise ball pitchers,” said Hodgson. “Sometimes rise balls go straight up in the air and sometimes they go out of the park, and we had more go out than them last Thursday.”
Juniors Jaelyn Leitzinger and Lexi Riechers hit back-to-back homers to lead off the top of the fourth inning.
Fellow junior Emilee Reuter led off the fifth a homer of her own to make it 3–0.
Senior Eliza Gordon reached on a bunt single, advanced on a wild pitch and scored Barneveld’s first run on an RBI single by Reagan Knight in the bottom of the fourth. Alea North added an RBI ground out later in the inning to make it 3–2.
Senior shortstop Addy McNett delivered a clutch two-out single in the top of the sixth one pitch before Reuter extended the Belmont lead to 5–2 with her second fence-clearing blast of the game.
But the Six Rivers champion Eagles responded like the champs they are.
Number nine batter McKenna Hopfensperger drew a one-out walk and Gordon followed with a single.
After Belmont pitcher Carsyn Ramaker struck out Knight for the second inning, senior Hannah Esch belted a game-tying three-run homer over the centerfield fence.
Aleea Norton and Addison Walker reached on back-to-back singles, but Ramaker got Reese to pop out to senior Claire Runde at first base to end the inning without further damage.
Lauren Reese, who came on to pitch in relief of Esch the previous inning, struck out the Belmont side in the top of the seventh.
Ramaker hurled a 1–2–3 bottom of the seventh with a pair punchouts of her out to send the game to extras.
After four pitches and two quick outs, Buss hammered the first pitch she saw from Reese over the fence for a 6–5 Belmont lead.
Ramaker recorded the first two outs, before an intentional walk to Esch, then struck out Norton to end the game.
“The first two times we played them we gave up three and five unearned runs on a bunch of errors and we really didn’t compete. This time around we came and played Belmont softball,” said Hodgson.
With the most knuckle-cracking showdown of the season behind them, Belmont made sure there would be no let down in the D5 River Ridge sectional championship two days later at Patch Grove.
Ramaker (18–6) struck out 14 batters in a magnificent two-hit shutout to beat top-seeded Ithaca/Weston 7–0 to earn Belmont’s ninth trip to the WIAA Softball State Tournament in the past 27 seasons (1999, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2017, 2017, 2026, 2027) all under coach Hodgson.
“I openly talked about it since March, that Barneveld was going to stop them and we stopped them,” said Hodgson. “You don’t have to be very smart to know one of those two teams was going to make it to state and be very competitive up there.
“Ithaca/Weston had a good team as well and we beat a really good hard-throwing pitcher in Maxwell. But we got three runs on her right away and we sort us just cruised to a sectional championship after that if that is possible.”
Reuter hit a one-out double in the bottom of the first and Ramaker followed with an RBI single.
Following a strikeout, Ramaker stole second, courtesy runner Annalisa Kisamore stole third and scored on an RBI single by Leitzinger.
After an error extended the inning, Belmont added a third run on a bases loaded walk by Alexus Burbach.
McNett made it 4–0 with an RBI single in the fourth, before Ramaker, Leitzinger and Reichers all hit solo homers in the Belmont fifth.
Ramaker, who was named WFSCA Division 5 Player of the Year and First-Team All-State a year ago as a utility player, struggled with her command and fatigue earlier this year, but has been sharper as of late going 5–0 with a 1.69 ERA, 53 strikeouts and 27 walks in 33 innings pitched over Belmont’s recent five-game winning streak
“I would say that the move to being our only pitcher this year was hard for Carsyn,” said Hodgson. “And we also had to replace a really good third baseman and we have worked on that. Carsyn got some rest the last few weeks and we are playing some really good defensive softball, so now she is closer to the really good version we all saw last year.”
Belmont (22–6) earned the No. 1 seed in this week’s WIAA D5 state tournament and beat No. 4 Athens 10–2 in a state semifinal Thursday morning.
The winner will advance to face either No. 2 seed Almond–Bancroft (26–1), the #1-ranked team in the state or No. 3 Blair–Taylor (21–5) in the D5 championship game Saturday morning at 8 a.m.
Belmont beat Almond–Bancroft, 8–3, to win last year’s state title.
“We are excited that we have qualified for the state field,” added Hodgson. “We plan on going over to Madison to do our very best to defend our state title.”
WIAA Division 5 Sectional Semifinal
No. 2 Belmont 6, No. 1 Barneveld 5
(from Tuesday, June 2 @ Barneveld)
Belmont.....000 212 01 — 6 10 0
Barneveld...000 023 00 — 5 10 3
Leading hitters — Bel: Emilee Reuter 2x4 (3RBI, 2R), Jaelyn Leitzinger 2x4 (RBI, R), Lexi Riechers 2x4 (RBI, R), Storm Buss 2x3 (RBI, R); Barn: Eliza Gordon 4x5 (2R), Hailey Esch 2x3 (3RBI, R). 2B — Barn: Gordon; HR — B: Reuter 2, Leitzinger, Riechers, Buss; Barn: Hannah Esch.
W — Carsyn Ramaker (17–6, 8IP, 10H, 5R, 5ER, 12K, 6BB). L — Reese (2.1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 4K, 0BB).
