SOFTBALL: Lady Indians hammer Harrisburg, 14-4
The Lady Indians knew after the top of the second inning that their offense was going to have to show up if they wanted to beat Harrisburg on Wednesday, and it did. Du Quoin plated five runs in back-to-back innings on their way to a 14-4 six-inning win over the visiting Lady Bulldogs.
DHS had ten hits in the game - three of them triples - against Harrisburg starter Matty Hawkins. Hawkins' counterpart, Du Quoin's Mackenzie Jackson, was hittable early in the game, but retired fourteen of the last fifteen batters she faced.
"I think we had eight extra-base hits on the year and we had three today," said Lady Indians head coach Jason James. "That helps us confidence-wise. We tried to come out with a little more upbeat attitude. The bench was into the game, we talked about it this morning and (Tuesday) night after the game. I thought we did a good job of coming out and keeping the enthusiasm."
Harrisburg's Bridget Payne drove in Gillian Jones with an RBI base hit in the top of the first inning, but Du Quoin answered back with a run in the bottom half when Marisa Ferguson singled, advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches, then scored on Jackson's sacrifice fly.
The Lady Bulldogs looked ready to do battle with the Lady Indians at the plate in the top of the second, getting a two-run triple by Whitney Younger, who scored moments later on a ground-out RBI by Jones to make it 4-1 Harrisburg.
Jackson shut the door from that point on, allowing just a single the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, Du Quoin's offense kept hammering away.
Afton Robinson tripled with one out in the bottom of the second to start a five-run inning for the Lady Indians. Timbra Mansfield (single), Ferguson (RBI single), and Jackson (three-run triple) added clutch hits during the rally.
In the bottom of the third, Du Quoin sent ten batters to the dish for the second inning in a row, and again scored five tallies. Four walks helped the Lady Indians build an 11-4 edge through three.
Robinson later brought the game-ending run across with an RBI single in the sixth.
"We finally looked like we were hitters when we stepped in the box because the confidence went up," James said. "Hopefully that's something that we can keep going."
Ferguson (2-4, 2 R, RBI), Jackson (1-3, 4 RBI, 3B, SAC), Robinson (2-4, RBI, 3B), Mansfield (1-2, R, BB), Amanda Atteberry (1-3, R, BB), Alaina Caldwell (2-4, 2 R) and Amber Williams (1-1, 3 R, RBI, 3B, 2 BB) all had hits for the Lady Indians. Jackson allowed four earned runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts in the circle.
For Harrisburg, Younger (1-3, R, 2 RBI, 3B), Jones (1-3, R, RBI), Payne (1-3, RBI), McKenzie Sullivan (1-3), Jessie Bramlet (1-1, R, BB) and Brittany Hutchison (1-2, R) did the hitting.
Du Quoin (4-6) will host Trico and Elverado on Saturday beginning at 11:00 a.m.