SOFTBALL: Murphysboro storms back on Lady Warriors

For three innings, Du Quoin Middle School had built an 11-2 lead in Thursday's home softball game, but couldn't prevent visiting Murphysboro from mounting a comeback with a pair of big innings to steal a 13-11 win over the Lady Warriors.

Du Quoin's offense, which had all 11 of their runs and seven hits in the first three innings managed just one hit over the course of the final four frames, and the last eight batters went down in order.

"Again, we are so close," said DMS head coach Jason James. "I'm proud of how we competed today. We will continue to improve. We've got a lot of games coming up the next two weeks."

Bailey Harsy and Braylee Watson (RBI) both singled in the bottom of the second inning to give Du Quoin a 1-0 lead before Murphy picked up two runs against DMS pitcher Maddie Robison in the top of the third on a pair of hits, an error, and a sacrifice fly.

The Lady Warriors then exploded at the plate in the bottom of the inning, sending fourteen batters to the dish and bringing home nine runs. Ella Hirsch started the rally with a double, Chloe Hess reached on an error, then Avery Waller drew a walk to load the bases. Aubrey Barwick grounded to first base for an RBI fielder's choice, then Harsy grounded to short for an RBI and reached base on an error. Lauren Heape then delivered a sac fly in front of Watson's two-run single.

With two outs, Hirsch came to the plate again and drove in a run with a base hit, and Hess (two-run double) and Barwick (two-run single) also came up with big two-out hits to make it 11-2 Du Quoin.

But almost immediately, Murphysboro started their comeback. Four hits and an error led to four runs in the fourth. Three hits and a walk plated two more in the fifth. Then, with DMS clinging to an 11-8 lead in the top of the sixth, Murphy took advantage of three walks, two errors and a hit batter with three RBI singles to propel themselves into the lead.

Hirsch (2-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B), Hess (2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B), Barwick (1-4, R, 3 RBI), Harsy (1-4, 2 R, RBI) and Watson (2-4, R, 3 RBI) had Du Quoin's eight hits.

The Lady Warriors (3-10) play a makeup game at home on Friday vs. Chester.