SOFTBALL: Defense, pitching carry PCHS past Benton
Defense and pitching got the job done for the Lady Panthers on Tuesday at Benton, as Pinckneyville manufactured all three of their runs in the top of the second inning and Mariah Clark tossed a shutout in the 3-0 win over the Rangerettes.
Clark gave up five hits and three walks and struck out five while letting Pinckneyville's defense do most of the work behind her.
"Obviously we didn't hit the ball very well today, so our defense had to come to play for us," said PCHS head softball coach Alan Engelhardt. "Maddie Jones made several nice plays there at shortstop, Josie Gleason did a nice job in right, Andrea Morgan tracked down a couple balls in center field."
"Early on (Clark) was struggling with her control a little bit. She found that after a while and was really effective with her curveball today. We weren't really multi-dimensional with our pitch calling, but she was getting a lot of swings and misses or swings and put it into play, so today it was effective."
Clark escaped a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout in the first inning after Ally Gischer tripled with one out and Aubrey Hunter and Taylor Mosley drew two-out walks.
The momentum carried into the top of the second for PCHS. Emma Banach and Josie Gleason both singled off of Mosely to start the inning and were bunted over by Clark. Kearsten Opp then bunted with one out, drawing a throw to the plate to try and keep the game scoreless, but Banach beat the tag for a 1-0 lead and K. Opp stood at first base on the fielder's choice RBI. Caitie Opp then singled home Gleason, and Andrea Morgan hit a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 3-0.
"When you're not hitting the ball well, (Mosely) is going to throw slow, she kind of had us out on our front foot," said Englehardt. "Really the only ball hit hard that inning was Josie's, and we got three runs out of it. We told the kids, we've got to do a better job of that, because you're going to face teams that sometimes you just struggle to score against, so you've got to manufacture offense that way."
The Rangerettes got two-out hits from Hunter and Mosely in the third, but Clark again cut off the potential rally with a K. Benton stranded another runner in the fourth and two more in the seventh.
Jones (1-3), Banach (1-2, R, SAC), Gleason (1-3, R), C. Opp (1-3, RBI), Kylee Kling (1-4) and Brooklyn Morrow (2-3) had Pinckneyville's seven hits.
Gischer (1-3, 3B, BB), Hunter (1-2, 2B, BB), Mosely (1-2, BB), Katie Sandusky (1-4) and Bailee Sawyer (1-3) hit safely for Benton. Mosely took the loss with three runs allowed on seven hits with five strikeouts.
Pinckneyville (19-9) will travel to Mt. Vernon on Wednesday for a late addition to their schedule against the Lady Rams before returning home to Greg Hale Field on Thursday to host Marissa.