SOFTBALL: Lady Panthers power past Du Quoin, 15-4
Pinckneyville's offense completely dominated Tuesday's conference battle between the Lady Panthers and Du Quoin as PCHS steamrolled their way to a 15-4 victory in five innings, pounding out seventeen hits. Brooklyn Morrow and Caitie Opp - who drove in a team-high six runs - both hit home runs for Pinckneyville.
"We never really got ahead of anybody in the count," said DHS head softball coach Jason James. "They're a good enough team that if you throw it down the middle or get it close they're going to hit it hard. They did that today, they hit the ball really well."
The Lady Indians led 2-0 after the top of the first, however, picking up RBIs from Amanda Atteberry (sacrifice fly) and Afton Robinson (double) against Morrow, PCHS's starter. But the lead would not last long.
Pinckneyville answered with a five-run first inning against DHS starter Mackenzie Jackson during which three Lady Panthers walked and later scored. Kearsten Opp (two-run single), Caitie Opp (two-run single) and Andrea Morgan (single) each had RBIs in the early rally.
"We made a couple miscues in the field and all of a sudden we're down 2-0, so I thought the kids responded well to that," said PCHS head coach Alan Engelhardt. "This is the best job we've done all year of knowing someone was going to throw us away and jumping on it and hitting it with authority. We didn't just hit the ball to the outfield, we had several balls hit with authority, up the the middle and away."
Du Quoin kept coming in the top of the second inning, picking up two runs after a double by Sydney Lewis, a walk to Amber Williams, a single by Marisa Ferguson, and an error by PCHS.
Still up 5-4, the Lady Panthers kept coming in the bottom of the second inning with another big five on the scoreboard. Morrow hit her ninth home run of the season - a record for most in a season at PCHS - and Caitie Opp added a three-run blast of her own to put Pinckneyville ahead 10-4.
Maddie Jones, Emma Banach, Josie Gleason, Caitie Opp and Lydia Pestka would all add to the lead with RBI singles in the third for the Lady Panthers.
"We've had kind of a rough stretch of playing some really high-quality teams, but it was nice for us to come out and have a little fun at the ball park today," Engelhardt said. "We don't get to do that all the time. I thought the kids did a nice job up and down the order of swinging at our pitch."
Jones (2-4, 2 R, RBI), Morrow (1-1, R, 2 RBI, HR, 2 BB), Banach (2-3, 2 R, RBI, BB), Gleason (1-1, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, SAC), Pestka (1-3, R, RBI), Morgan (1-3, RBI), Kylee Kling (2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B), Kearsten Opp (2-3, 3 R, 2 RBI) and Caitie Opp (3-3, 2 R, 6 RBI, HR) all had hits for Pinckneyville. Morrow allowed four hits and four walks in the circle. She struck out four.
The Lady Indians got hits from Ferguson (1-3, R), Robinson (1-3, RBI, 2B), Lewis (1-2, R, 2B) and Jackson (1-2, R).
Du Quoin (12-13, 3-6) hosts Herrin on Wednesday and Anna-Jonesboro on Friday. Pinckneyville (16-6, 5-3) welcomes Johnston City to Greg Hale Field on Wednesday before heading to Nashville on Friday.