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EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's Lauren Taplin came up big when she was needed most in Wednesday's 8-6 season-opening Tiger win over Gillespie.
Taplin singled in Anna Burke and Emma Lewis with one out in the bottom of the sixth to snap a 6-6 tie with the Miners and give EHS the win. Burke opened the inning with a double and one out later, Lewis had singled her way on base to bring up Taplin.
“My teammates did a good job of getting on in front of me and put me in the situation where I could get them in,” Taplin said. “(The pitch Taplin lifted for the two RBIs) was a little bit outside and I just went with it.”
Gillespie has been one of the area's top small-school teams in recent years; Taplin felt that the Tigers had defeated a good team. “They are a really good team; they were a good team last year too,” Taplin said. “They did a good job without their pitcher from last year (Addison Bryant); they're really good hitters.”
As far as this year's edition of the Tigers goes, Taplin said “we're hoping to get some leadership with our senior class, just show everyone that we can compete and come out like we did tonight and come back when we're down; we just go in with the mind-set to show everyone that we can compete each year and show that we can compete each year.”
Next up for the Tigers are a pair of Saturday games at home, with EHS meeting Breese Mater Dei at 10 a.m. and Joliet West at noon before they head to Granite City's Wilson Park/George Sykes Field for a 4:30 p.m. Tuesday Southwestern Conference game against the Warriors.
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