The final full week of games in the 2026 regular season for Prairie du Chien Softball took place this past week with five games over six days in four different towns.
PdC began the week last Monday at River Valley and were defeated by a score of 5-0. The Hawks were held to two hits in the loss, a single by Kristin Nolan and a double by April Smith. Claire Kennedy (five runs allowed on five hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 6.0 innings pitched) was dealt the pitching loss.
The Hawks headed to Richland Center the following day where Kennedy and the Hornets’ Kyree Fischer did battle in the pitchers circle. The two teams exchanged zeroes on the scoreboard in each of the first two and half innings until the Hornets struck first on an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the third inning to take a 1-0 lead, giving Fischer all the run support she needed as the Hornets held on for the 1-0 win.
Fischer was dominant pitching wise, taking a perfect game into the top of the seventh inning before it was broken up by a one-out single by Camryn Knapp. Fischer struck out 19 of the 21 batters she faced. Kennedy took the loss despite only allowing one run on three hits and zero walks with nine strikeouts in 6.0 innings pitched.
Prairie du Chien traveled to Dodgeville last Friday, May 15 to take on the Dodgers. The hosts used a four-run first inning and a two-run second inning to take a 6-0 lead before the Hawks managed to plate a run in the top of the third inning for their only run of the game as the Dodgers defeated the Hawks 6-1. Kennedy (six runs allowed (two earned) on eight hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in 6.0 innings pitched) was the losing pitcher for the Hawks. She did, though, help her own cause at the plate by going 1-for-3 with a home run, walk, one run scored and one RBI). Smith and Laney Mitchell each singled for the Hawks other two hits in the game.
The week finally came to an end this past Saturday when PdC took part in a triangular at Platteville against East Dubuque and Southwestern. First up for the Hawks was the Warriors of East Dubuque and Prairie took an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. The lead would be short-lived as the Warriors answered with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth inning. East Dubuque would go on to break the 2-2 tie with a run in the top of the sixth inning before holding on to defeat the Hawks by the score of 3-2.
Kennedy (three runs allowed (zero earned) on five hits in 7.0 innings pitched) managed to strike out 11 batters in the loss. She also accounted for half of the Hawks six hits as a team by going 3-for-4 at the plate with one run scored. PdC also got base hits from Knapp, Brecklyn McCumber and Nolan in the loss.
The final game of the day and the week came against the Southwestern Wildcats. The Prairie du Chien offense erupted for nine runs on 15 hits as they earned a 9-5 win over the SWAL opponents. The Hawks scored at least one run in every inning except for the second inning, including two runs in the first, fourth and sixth innings. Southwestern cut into the Hawks lead with one run in the bottom of the second and four more in the bottom of the sixth but were unable to get any closer as Nolan (five runs allowed (three earned) on nine hits and one walk with seven strikeouts) earned the complete game victory for Prairie du Chien.
Six different Hawks had multiple-hits in the win, including three-hit games by Knapp (3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs) and McCumber (3-for-4 with a double, triple, one run scored and two RBIs). Other Hawks with multi-hit games included Mitchell (2-for-5 with two runs scored), Nolan (2-for-3 with one RBI), Jocelyn Campbell (2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs) and Hannah Ingham (2-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored).
Following this past Tuesday night’s regular season finale at home vs. Platteville, the Hawks will begin the postseason next Tuesday, May 26 as the sixth seed in their regional at third seeded Richland Center.
