SOFTBALL: Lady Warriors bounced by Benton
Du Quoin Middle School led 6-4 through four innings at Thursday's Class L Softball Regional, but tournament host Benton rallied with three runs in the fifth and six more in the sixth to complete a 13-6 come-from-behind victory to advance to Saturday's 10 a.m. championship.
The Lady Warriors left a dozen runners on base, twice coming out of an inning empty-handed after putting the first two batters on.
"We left runners on in key situations," said DMS head coach Jason James. "Second and third with one out, and we strike out. I think we struck out 11 times. A lot of it is that we're young, they're learning experiences. Hopefully we learn from that and put the ball in play."
DMS took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning after Bailey Harsy reached on an error and scored on an RBI single by Chloe Hess, who ended the day with three hits for the Lady Warriors. Hess later scored on an error.
Benton took their first lead in the bottom of the second. The first three batters - Katie Johnson (single), Taylor Read (error) and Maddi McLain (single) - all reached base and later scored. Olivia Bragg (two-run single) and Addy Miller (fielder's choice) picked up RBIs in the four-run rally.
Du Quoin evened the score at 4-4 with help from an Aubrey Barwick single, a passed ball, and an error in the top of the third. They went up 6-4 in the top of the fourth after a two-run base hit by Barwick, but stranded the remaining six base runners they had over the last three innings.
Benton crept ahead in the bottom of the fifth, again putting their first three batters on base. Morgan Reno walked in front of back-to-back singles by Maddi Wallace and Johnson, then Read and McLain each had RBI ground ball outs to make it 7-6.
Things came unraveled for the Lady Warriors an inning later, as a walk, an error, and four Benton hits led to their big inning. McLain (two-run single) and Olivia Wilkey (single) both drove in runs.
"(The defense) didn't help either," said James. "I think the three innings we got 1-2-3 or faced only four batters we looked pretty good, then in some of the others it was like we had brain farts. We just don't know what to do with the ball when its hit. We get a little lackadaisical, the ball is hit at us and we're shocked, we've just got to learn to stay focused for seven innings."
"What we want to work on in the offseason is learning the game, learning the situation. If we put the ball in play there, we get a run, something that simple."
Hess (3-5, 2 R, RBI), Barwick (2-3, R, 2 RBI, BB), Ella Hirsch (1-4), Braylee Watson (1-4, R) and Abbi Mocaby (1-4) had hits for DMS. Maddie Robison was the pitcher of record.
Du Quoin ends their season at 7-15.