SOFTBALL: Herrin can't stop Jones, Morrow, PCHS
Herrin used three different pitchers and had ten different opportunities to retire Lady Panthers Maddie Jones and Brooklyn Morrow in Thursday's varsity softball matchup at Jilek Field. They didn't get it done. Not even once.
Jones and Morrow combined to go 6-for-6 at the plate with four walks and scored five of Pinckneyville's ten runs in their 10-3 win over the Lady Tigers. Jones belted a homer in her first plate appearance of the season, and Morrow laced a pair of doubles as PCHS scored in six of the seven innings.
"That's kind of our mentality," said Pinckneyville head coach Alan Engelhardt. "You want to have the big inning, but you'd rather get one, get two, get one, because that's demoralizing to the other team when you're constantly putting pressure on them. Then they feel like they have to score every inning. I think our kids have had a great approach with that so far this year."
"I thought the top of our order did a tremendous job hitting the ball hard, getting on base, and scoring runs. We did a great job of setting the table up top, for sure."
Jones crushed the second pitch she saw over the fence in centerfield for a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. In the top of the second, Kearsten Opp singled and later scored on a passed ball, making it 2-0 Panthers.
Pinckneyville got their first crooked number in the third when Caitie Opp doubled off the wall for two RBIs before K. Opp again scored on a passed ball, giving Pinckneyville a commanding 5-0 lead.
Morrow made it 7-0 an inning later with a two-run double, then worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the frame to keep Herrin off the board momentarily.
The Lady Tigers would eventually break through with two runs in the fifth and a third in the seventh, but there was no stopping the PCHS offense.
Emma Banach drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth, then plated another run in the seven on a ground-out RBI after Mariah Clark had done the same a batter earlier.
Morrow scattered ten Herrin hits, but had solid defense behind her to help minimize the damage on the scoreboard.
"The defense played well again," Engelhardt said. "We didn't have any errors (on Wednesday), we only had one (on Thursday), so you're going to win a lot of games doing that."
"We talked about bringing Clark in there at the end, but we're trying to get pitchers legs under them a little bit in game situations. We'll try to do the same thing with Mariah tomorrow against Okawville. With this many games early it's nice to be able to alternate them a little bit."
Jones (3-3, 3 R, RBI, HR, BB), Morrow (3-3, 2 RBI, 2 2B), K. Opp (1-4, 2 R, BB), C. Opp (1-4, 2 RBI, 2B), Mayci Doerflein (1-4) and Andrea Morgan (1-3, BB) all had hits for Pinckneyville.
The Lady Panthers (2-0) are at Okawville on Friday, then host Mater Dei and Red Bud on Saturday morning in Pinckneyville.