Notebook: Princeton’s Ace Christiansen finds his way on base one way or another

The object of any ball player is get on base. The more you get on, the better chances to score.

No one has been getting on base better than Ace Christiansen of late.

The Princeton senior catcher and leadoff had reached base 12 straight times heading into Monday’s game with nine hits and three walks. To no coincidence, all three games were Tiger wins.

On the year, Christiansen has an area-best .633 on-base percentage with 16 hits and five walks in 30 plate appearances, while batting .542.

Simply put, Christiansen knows it’s his job to get on base,

“Being the leadoff batter sets the tone for the whole game,” he said. “Knowing that if I can get on base I have a pretty good chance of scoring with the others batting behind me. My mindset up there is to find any way to get on, whether that is a walk or a hit.”

Christiansen saw his streak snapped in Monday’s come-from-behind, 6-2 win over Erie-Prophetstown, but hit the ball sharply in two of his three at-bats.

St. Bede junior Lily Bosnich is ranked third in the Tri-County Conference with a .619 on-base percentage with 21 hits and four walks in 42 plate appearances.

Gus Burr was leading the Bruins baseball team with an OBP of .611 with Carson Riva at .571.

Sophomore Avah Oertel leads the Princeton softballers at .586 with Keely Lawson following at .531.

At Bureau Valley, Sadie Bailey leads the Storm softballers with an even .500 OBP with Logan Philower (.494) and Drake Taylor (.487) leading the Storm diamond men.

Jack Jablonski leads Hall baseball at .484 while Caroline Morris tops Hall softball at .435.

Thou shalt steal

Lily Bosnich is taking her speed from track to the ball diamond for the St. Bede softball team and thriving. She leads all Bureau County softball players with 15 steals in the Bruins’ first 13 games. She’s been caught stealing just twice.

She pretty much has the green light to steal from head coach Rob Ruppert.

“Coach Ruppert really trusts my speed and he just lets me steal. It’s awesome. I love it,” she said.

Ruppert loves seeing Bosnich create havoc on the bases.

“She is hitting well and fun to watch run,” Ruppert said. “She pretty much gets on first and just steals second. Games we have won our speed has been a plus.

100 strikeouts

Bureau Valley senior Carly Reglin recorded her 100th strikeout of the season with five in Saturday’s doubleheader against ROWVA-Williiamsfield.

She is 6-4 with a 3.59 ERA.

Take me to your leaders

Here’s a look at some Bureau County statistical area leaders five weeks into the season:

Bosnich leads the softball side in batting with a .568 clip. Princeton sophomore slugger Avah Oertel has five home runs and 17 RBIs while BV catcher Emily Wright tops the area with seven doubles. The Storm’s Mallory Maubach carries the best ERA in the circle at 2.40 with a 4-0 record.

BV batters were leading the area in baseball in many stats: Drake Taylor with 25 RBIs, Elijah Endress with 22 steals and Blake Foster with eight doubles. Hall’s Braden Curran dazzles with an 0.69 ERA and 4-0 record with teammate Noah Plym standing 2-1 with a 1.53 ERA, Storm ace Logan Philhower at 5-1 and 1.58 and St. Bede’s Alan Spencer at 5-0, 1.57 and Ranir Saini at 4-0, 1.11.

Philhower leads with 58 strikeouts with Spencer at 56 Ks.