Ithaca-Weston falls in softball, Belmont advances to state

The season came to an end for the Ithaca/Weston softball team with a 7-0 loss to Belmont at River Ridge High School in the WIAA Sectional Final. The Braves are the defending division 5 state champions and they knocked off Ithaca last season in the state semi-final. 

On Thursday, Belmont plated 3 runs on 3 hits and took advantage of 2 errors in the first inning when they jumped to the lead. In an impressive 5^th inning, Carsyn Ramaker, Jaelyn Leitzinger, and Lexi Riechers all hit solo home runs over the fence in left center field.  Ramaker was the winning pitcher with 14 strike outs, 4 walks, and 2 hits given up.

Ithaca-Weston had hits from Jacey Maxwell and Autumn McBain on the day.  They stranded two runners in the 2^nd , 4^th, and 7^th innings as they could not come up with a clutch hit. Maxwell suffered the pitching loss after giving up 6 hits.  Freshman Aspen Young pitched a 1-2-3 6^th inning in relief. 

Belmont is now 23-6 and will play in the state semi-final next Thursday in Madison. Ithaca/Weston fell to 19-5 on the season after winning the Ridge and Valley Conference championship and a WIAA Regional title. Two Seniors played their final high school softball games as Jadyn Boland and Valerie Bauer recently graduated with the class of 2026.