By Star-News Sports

LUXEMBURG – The Luxemburg-Casco softball team’s North Eastern Conference hot streak continued with another batch of wins this week, clobbering Marinette twice and hanging a shutout on the Wolves in Algoma, pushing its win streak to nine straight.

And don’t look now but the Spartans are developing another ace on the mound to compliment the strong arm of Savannah Jandrin as sophomore Kate Van Ess has logged three wins recently, including the shutout against Algoma in her first varsity start.

So far this season, Van Ess has tossed 18.1 innings with just two earned runs against her for a 0.76 ERA.

In her first start against Algoma, Van Ess gave up only two hits in her complete-game victory while recording three strikeouts.

The Spartans started off last Thursday’s game at home against the Marines with a flurry of offense.

The L-C bats were led by Josie Dorner, Rylan Kaminski, Jillian Jorgensen, Van Ess, Anna Vandermause and Grace Kahr, all knocking in runs in the opening inning.

The Spartans had 11 total hits in the victory.

Offensively against Algoma, the Spartans tallied eight hits on the day.

Dorner and Maggie Hanmann each racked up multiple hits, each collecting a pair to lead L-C.

Jandrin got the win from the mound against the Marines on May 3, pitching a complete-game shutout, giving up only four hits and zero walks while striking out three batters.

Thev Spartans notched four runs in the fifth inning as Vandermause, Kahr, and Hanson all contributed RBIs in the inning.

L-C is now in second place in the North Eastern Conference race at 11-1, its only loss coming at the hands of first-place Freedom.