EDWARDSVILLE – The Edwardsville High School softball team hosted the Triad Knights Friday afternoon at District 7 Sports Complex. It was the Tigers who got off to a slow start but eventually came around to win by a score of 11-3.

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With the win, the Tigers improve to 9-1 on the season while Triad falls to 3-5.

The Knights struck in the first inning with things starting off with a leadoff walk for Horn Syd. She eventually made her way to third after a groundout and Sam Jarman’s double, finally scoring on a wild pitch from Edwardsville starter Riley Nelson.

Delaney Hess singled to score Jarman from second to take a 2-0 lead.

Edwardsville’s bats were silenced in the bottom of the first but came alive the following inning.

The second started off with Grace Oertle being walked and then Nelson reaching on an error. Marley Fox was walked to load the bases with just one out. Avery Hamilton was walked, scoring Oertle. Zoie Boyd then came up and smacked a bases-clearing triple to go ahead 4-2.

Triad’s third and final run came in the top of the third after an RBI single from Logan Looby scored Phoebe Feldman to cut the deficit to just one run, only momentarily.

Jillian Lane and Oertle both singled, followed by Nelson getting walked to quickly load the bases with no outs for Edwardsville. Shelby Gorniak hit an RBI single to score Lane and keep the bases full.

It was another bases-clearing triple, this time from Fox to blow the game wide open. She later scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-3. Jilian Hawkes hit an RBI single to score Fox and make it the sixth game this season that the Tigers have scored in double figures.

“We did a great job of putting the ball in play today,” Edwardsville head coach Caty Happe said.

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“We forced Triad to make some plays and we were fortunate that it went our way. We’re starting to get some better at-bats which is what we hope to see as the season goes on.”

The second inning could have looked a lot different if it wasn’t for an unnecessary error in the outfield when a routine fly ball was dropped. Boyd’s triple could’ve been prevented if it wasn’t for another trip up in the outfield.

“We just have to make plays, and we didn’t,” Triad head coach Kris Kleeman said.

“Hats off to Edwardsville, they got down 2-0 and kept working hard and came back to score four in that inning and then added to that after from there. We just have to make plays, and that’s been our downfall from the beginning.”

Fox put a little icing on the cake for the Tigers in the bottom of the sixth with another RBI single that scored Maddie Kolakowski to get to the eventual scoreline of 11-3.

Nelson earned the win, throwing the first five innings, allowing seven hits, and striking out two. Hamilton pitched the final two frames in relief and picked up a single K.

The Tigers have now won three straight since a 6-4 loss to Civic Memorial back on Monday.

“We’re going to lose games, that’s going to happen, and we’re going to learn from them. They responded really well,” Happe said about her team’s ability to bounce back following their only loss so far this season.

In the three games since playing CM, the Tigers have scored 16, 15, and now 11 runs. Edwardsville scored a season-high 21 runs in a rout over Granite City last month.

The Tigers will be back in action at home on Tuesday, March 11, when they host Belleville East (11-2-1) at 4:30 p.m. The Lancers are coming off a doubleheader sweep over Red Bud on Saturday and have now won eight in a row.

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