Rangers’ Kleman couldn’t be stopped
MADISON, Wis. – It was the Jordyn Kleman show Friday.
The Logan High School junior did it with her arm. She did it with her bat. And she led the Rangers a WIAA Division 2 state championship berth.
Kleman struck out 13. She hit a two-run home run and had all three of the Rangers RBI in a 3-1 win over last year’s state runners-up, New London on Friday at Goodman Diamond in the state semifinals. At 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Logan (27-1) will play for a WIAA title against Waupun (27-4), which beat second-ranked Beloit Turner (26-3), 5-4 earlier in the night.
Along with the 13 strikeouts, Kleman walked zero. She gave up just three hits, but there was drama.
Up 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh, New London (25-6) – which won a state title two seasons ago – singled to start the inning. Kleman then threw a wild pitch, advancing the runner. A single on the next at-bat cut the lead to 3-1 with no outs. The rally was on with the tying run at the plate.
And then the rally was over. Kleman struck out the next two to end the game and send the Rangers to the state title. The junior pitcher now has 303 strikeouts in 152 innings pitched this season.
She put her team up 2-0 with a home run to left field in the third. In the fifth, she doubled in teammate Kadie Weiss for the 3-0 lead.
New London’s Shelby Sommer had 11 strikeouts, three walks and gave up seven hits in the loss.
Waupun’s starter against Beloit Turner, Megan Van Ruiswyk, struck out none, walked one and gave up six hits and four earned runs. Waupun scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh for the comeback victory.