EDWARDSVILLE – It can be arguably said that Gillespie may be one of those teams that could surprise some observers of area high school softball this season.
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Don't count Edwardsville coach Lori Blade as one of those folks.
“If you had played (the Miners) last year, you knew (Gillespie pitcher Addison Bryant) she was coming back as a junior,” Blade said. “She's good. They're not going to surprise anybody.”
The Miners may not have surprised the Tigers; Bryant had already pitched in two games so far this young season, fanning a total of 29 batters before Gillespie traveled to Edwardsville for the Tigers' home opener Monday afternoon, so EHS knew what may have been in store for them.
“She's (Bryant) good; she pitches, she doesn't just throw,” Blade said. “She puts it where she wants it, she has good movement on it and her location is always good; we knew that coming in.”
Bryant stymied the Tigers through the first five innings before EHS came alive, but by that time, the Miners had already gotten a 7-0 lead, which included a six-run fourth, as Gillespie went to 4-0 on the year with a 7-3 win over Edwardsville; the Tigers fell to 1-1 on the year.
“As inexperienced as we are up and down the lineup,” Blade said, “we have to learn to make adjustments a lot quicker than we did. We made adjustments in the swing (the final two innings); not every pitch is the same, every swing shouldn't be the same.
“The first five innings, every swing we took was the same, and we made no adjustments whatsoever at the plate. We have to learn to do that, and we did a little bit later on, but they're awfully good. We knew spotting them those runs that one inning, we can't walk six kids in three-and-a-half innings – that's going to cause trouble for us.”
Edwardsville's starting pitcher, Allison Loehr, seemingly had gotten off to a good start, retiring the first five Miners she faced, but Riley Sarti got ahold of a Loehr offering and sent it over the fence in deep center field to give Gillespie a 1-0 lead in the second. Gillespie threatened in the third, but the Tigers managed to shut down the Miners facing a bases-loaded, two-out situation when Beth Fields flew out to right.
But Gillespie exploded in the fourth, getting the bases loaded before Bryant stepped to the plate; she delivered a two-run double in up the Miner lead to 3-0, but it was enough to chase Loehr and bring in Jennifer Kocevar to the circle. Kocevar was greeted with a two-run single off Allie Clay to up the lead to 5-0, and then Mackenzie Kasarda cleared the fence in left with a two-run shot that gave the Miners a 7-0 lead.
The Tigers bounced back in the bottom of the sixth when Jordyn Hendricks doubled and went to third on an error; Rachel Anderson then chased Hendricks home with a single, but was thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double. In the seventh, Anna Burke singled and came home when Hayli Green lifted a two-run homer over the fence in right to make it 7-3; Emma Lewis kept the rally going with a single, but Bryant retired the final three batters to end the game.
Blade was happy about how the Tigers continued to battle even while falling behind by seven runs. “We didn't quit,” Blade said. “The first goal was not to get shut out after we got down 7-0, then the second goal was to see if we could put together something, and we did both.
“I was proud of the last two innings; we just have to execute a little bit better throughout the game than what we did.”
Loehr took the loss, going 3.1 innings, giving up five earned runs on three hits and walking six while striking out one; Kocevar went 3.2 innings and gave up two earned runs on three hits while fanning three. Bryant went the distance in getting the win, giving up three earned runs on eight hits while fanning 11.
The Tigers host Bunker Hill at 4 p.m. Thursday.
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