Seneca’s Tessa Krull fires 1-hitter, fans 13 in 6-0 win over Serena

SENECA — Despite retiring Serena in order in the first inning Saturday, Seneca junior pitcher Tessa Krull wasn’t happy.

“At the beginning of the game, mainly the first inning, I wasn’t trusting my rise-spin pitch,” Krull said. “While we were batting in bottom of the first, I went back down to the bullpen and worked on it. Coming back in the second, I just had more confidence with it. Really, the last three innings it became my strikeout pitch.”

Krull finished the contest allowing just one hit and no walks with 13 strikeouts, while the Fighting Irish (10-0) scored single runs in the opening three innings, then added three in the fifth in the eventual 6-0 victory over the Huskers (6-3).

For the season, Seneca has now outscored its opponents by an eye-popping 110-6 total.

“For much of the game, I just felt like whatever and wherever pitch was called I was confident in it and just threw,” said Krull, who fired strikes on 68 of her 96 pitches. “I’ve really been working on my changeup, and today it felt so good to be able to throw it for strikes. The changeup is a pitch I didn’t have before this season, and while I know I can still improve with it, I’m happy with the progress I have made with it from the offseason until now.”

Alyssa Zellers led off the bottom of the first with a double off Serena’s Maddie Glade (6 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) and scored on a throwing error. In the second, Aurora Weber’s squeeze bunt made it 2-0, and in the third, Lexie Buis singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

“We played an overall clean game, and after the first inning, Tessa was really locked in,” Seneca coach Brian Holman said. “We left a couple runs out there – I got one thrown out and we botched a squeeze play – but other than that, it was a good game for us.

“Against good teams like Serena, that is well-coached, they make you earn runs, and you have to take advantage of the opportunities when they are there. I thought we did a great job of putting good at-bats together, moving runners, taking the extra base and playing solid defense behind Tessa.”

Seneca’s three tallies in the fifth came on an RBI double by Buis, a run-scoring single by Hayden Pfeifer and an RBI groundout by Krull.

Camryn Stecken (double) and Buis each had two hits, while Graysen Provance slapped a double.

Serena’s lone hit against Krull was a two-out single down the right-field line by Anna Hjerpe in the fifth.

“We knew we were going to face Tessa today, and even with all the scouting reports we just couldn’t find a way to solve her,” Serena coach Kelly Baker said. “On the flip side, Seneca is such a great hitting team, you can position your fielders to their strengths, but they just find other ways to hit the ball into open spots.

“One thing I’m a little disappointed with is our lack of in-game adjustments at the plate. Tessa pitched a fantastic game, no doubt about that, but I felt like we went up there the second and third at-bats with the same approach that hadn’t worked the first time.

“They caught us a couple times defensively where we didn’t communicate, and it cost us a couple runs. We have to be better moving forward in that aspect.”

Both squads are scheduled back in action Monday, with Seneca playing at Bradley-Bourbonnais and Serena traveling to Earlville for a Little Ten Conference game.