Immke breaks school single-season home run record
By Fred Kroner
Shayne Immke’s uniform number is 12, but in the all-time St. Joseph-Ogden softball record books, the senior is No. 1.
On her Senior Night game (Monday, May 8), she took down the school’s single-season home run record at home against Tuscola. Immke hammered two home runs in a 12-1 SJ-O victory.
She tied the previous school record, held by Bailey Dowling in both 2017 and 2019, with her second-inning blast and then etched her name at the top of the record books in her sixth-inning at-bat, slamming No. 23.
Immke had three hits and five RBI for the day.
Addy Martinie (No. 14) and Alyssa Acton (No. 8) also homered against the Warriors. Martinie’s three-run shot in the first inning lifted the Spartans into a lead they never lost.
Martinie, Halle Brazelton, Addison Frick and Peyton Jones all stroked two hits against Tuscola. Jones and Grace Osterbur both scored two runs. Martinie delivered four RBI.
Timera Blackburn-Kelley (12-3) pitched all six innings and earned the victory, She yielded four hits while walking two batters and striking out two.
Earlier in the season, Immke had broken SJ-O’s single-season record for triples in a season. She has 14. With her recent home run outburst, she stands third on the all-time IHSA state list for homers in a season.
The SJ-O seniors are Acton, Morgan Cramer, Immke, Jones, Katharine Short and Sofie Siemsen.
On Tuesday (May 9), SJ-O tallied 12 runs in the top of the sixth inning and turned back Danville, 20-3, in Tilton.
Frick rapped four hits. Contributing three hits apiece were Immke, Jones and Short. Acton stroked two hits. Two of Immke’s hits were doubles. Frick and Martinie belted triples. Acton hit a double.
The Spartans were 12-for-12 on stolen bases attempts, with Jones swiping five bases, Immke three and Martinie two.
The team’s top run-producers were Acton (four RBI), Jones (three RBI), Brazelton (two RBI), Immke (two RBI) and Short (two RBI).
Immke tallied four runs. Jones crossed home plate three times. Frick, Martinie and Osterbur all scored two runs.
Madison Stevens (6-1) pitched five innings, walking one and striking out two. She earned the win. Amelia Huckstadt pitched the final inning and retired all three batters that she faced.
SJ-O (24-9) returns to action on Thursday (May 11) at home against Charleston.
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Dowling is one of the team leaders this spring for a 38-17 University of Alabama team. She is second on the team with eight home runs and tied for the team-lead with 40 RBI.
In three years at Alabama, Dowling has started 129 of the 131 games in which she has played and holds a .287 career batting average with 24 home runs and 94 RBI.
This season, she is batting .298, the team’s fourth-best average on the nation’s 14th-ranked Division I collegiate softball team.
