SOFTBALL: Carterville's English slows down PCHS offense

Pinckneyville managed only three hits off of Carterville hurler Avery English as the Lady Lions got by the Lady Panthers 5-2 in Tuesday's conference matchup at Greg Hale Field.

English surrendered one earned run and struck out nine hitters while issuing a pair of walks, handing PCHS their first conference loss of the season.

The Lady Lions took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on Kylee Rock's solo homer to center field off of Taylor Howard and added another run in the fourth after Megan Moon reached on an error and scored on Taylor Williams' RBI single.

In the fifth, Carterville padded their lead with three more runs, two charged to Brooklyn Morrow, who started the inning for PCHS in the circle and allowed singles to Megan Barrett and Megan Hampton and hit Carly Callahan with a pitch. Hampton's single plated two, and she would later score on Becky Peterson's RBI base hit against Howard, who returned to the circle for the remainder of the game.

Pinckneyville tried to come back in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two runs after a single by Keelyn Stein, a walk to Jordyn Wieland, and an RBI single by Maddie Jones, but English rebounded to retire the final seven PCHS batters of the game.

Jones (1-3, RBI), Howard (1-3) and Stein (1-2, BB) hit safely for the Lady Panthers. Howard tossed six and two-thirds innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

For the Lady Lions, Barrett (2-4, R) and Callahan (2-3, R) each had two-hit days at the plate. Others recording hits for Carterville were English (1-4), Rock (1-2, solo HR, BB), Hampton (1-4, R, 2 RBI), Peterson (1-4, RBI) and Williams (1-3, RBI).

Pinckneyville (10-5, 3-1) faces another state-ranked foe on Tuesday when they travel to Nashville.