SOFTBALL: Pinckneyville slips by Du Quoin into championship

The Lady Indians had a 5-1 lead on Pinckneyville in Tuesday's Class 2A Softball Regional semifinal in Du Quoin, but an error-plagued fifth inning allowed the Lady Panthers to mount a comeback and steal a 7-5 victory to advance into Saturday's championship.

DHS had just scored three runs in the top of the fifth to go up by four when things came unraveled in the bottom of the inning which saw eleven PCHS batters step to the plate.

"I thought we outplayed them through the first four and a half innings," said Du Quoin head coach Jason James. "They got some kids on base and put a little pressure on us, put the ball in play, and made things happen. It's not because of lack of effort. I thought the kids played hard and tried to make the plays, things just didn't go our way."

Brooklyn Morrow picked up the victory in the pitching circle for Pinckneyville, coming on in relief of Mariah Clark during Du Quoin's fifth inning. Morrow gave up a three-run triple to the first batter she faced before finishing strong, allowing just one hit and a walk with three strikeouts in three innings of work.

"I put (Morrow) in a really tough situation there," said Lady Panthers head coach Alan Engelhardt. "Mariah was struggling to throw strikes, and we could not have another walk there. She was trying to over-throw. She's a young kid, she was just trying too hard."

"Brooklyn did a tremendous job. That's what you expect from one of your older kids, to settle down, throw strikes, and our defense was very good for the most part."

Du Quoin drew first blood in the top of the third inning. Amber Williams led off with a double, Mackenzie Jackson singled, then Jordyn Bullar picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice. Amanda Atteberry later drove in Jackson with a ground ball to make it 2-0.

Pinckneyville loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the third against DHS starter Marisa Ferguson only to have nothing to show for it, but halved the lead in the fourth on Caitie Opp's RBI double to plate Lydia Pestka, running for Clark (single).

"You feel great for (C. Opp) because there's nobody who out-works her," Engelhardt said. "That's what you hope to see is your seniors stepping up."

The Lady Indians took command of the game in the top of the fifth, loading the bases with nobody out on walks to Williams and Jackson and a single from Bullar. Clark exited the circle in favor of Morrow, who gave up a bases-clearing triple to Ferguson that glanced off the glove of PCHS third baseman Emma Banach into the left field corner, making it 5-1. After that, Morrow was stingy, allowing just a walk to the last nine batters of the game.

"I thought we were geared up pretty good (against Clark)," James said. "We knew she was going to come fast, come hard at us. I thought we hit the ball hard, put it in play, and did some good things there. Morrow came in and changed speeds a little bit and kept us off-balance."

With their backs to the wall, the Lady Panthers found a way to get the job done in the bottom of the fifth. After Ferguson fanned Morrow to start the inning, Maddie Jones tripled then scored when Banach reached on an error. Josie Gleason then singled, and Clark then C. Opp drew walks to load the bases with two outs for pinch hitter Megan Mayo.

Mayo put the ball in play towards third base for what looked like a rally killer, but the throw to first was in the dirt and got away for a three-run error to put the Lady Panthers ahead.

"I thought once we got through Morrow that inning we might cruise through it," James said. "Then Jones came up with a triple, that run didn't really mean anything. Then we get a ground ball, booted it, and it just seemed like it snowballed from there."

Pinckneyville's Kylee Kling followed with a hard-hit ball that got by the shortstop for a tough error, bringing in an insurance run.

"As the game went along, our approach just consistently got better," said Engelhardt. "We started hitting balls hard because we were swinging at better pitches for us. Early in the game we were swinging at (Ferguson's) stuff a lot."

Ferguson ended the day with two earned runs allowed on nine hits and five walks - three of them to Morrow, who was fresh off a three-home run game on Monday. Jackson (1-3, 2 R, BB), Bullar (2-4, R, RBI), Ferguson (1-3, 3 RBI, 3B, BB) and Williams (1-2, 2 R, 2B, BB) had hits for the Lady Indians, who had won seven straight before Tuesday's loss and finish with a record of 19-15.

"Our season had its' ups and downs," James said. "We went from early in the year not catching it and not putting it in play, to the last seven or eight games where I thought we did a lot better job of coming together a little bit."

For Pinckneyville, Kling (1-4), Jones (1-4, R, 3B), Banach (1-4, R, RBI, 2B), Gleason (2-4, R), Clark (1-3, BB), C. Opp (1-2, R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB), Andrea Morgan (1-2, R) and Kearsten Opp (1-3, SAC) hit safely. Clark tossed four innings, allowing five runs on four hits and three walks and struck out four.

"I told the kids I thought we showed a lot of heart and resiliency for the second day in a row, which is a good sign," Engelhardt said. "Being down yesterday 5-1 (against Centralia), today it was 5-1, coming back and fighting to get a W out of it. We had other kids pick us up today because they threw around Brooklyn all day."

Winners of five straight, the Lady Panthers (23-9) will get the winner of Wednesday's other semifinal matchup between West Frankfort and Waltonville-Sesser-Valier in the championship on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. in Du Quoin.