EDWARDSVILLE – Belleville West scored five times in the top of the first, highlighted by a Haley Dunn grand-slam homer, to hand Edwardsville's softball team its first loss of the season, a 7-5 Southwestern Conference loss at Edwardsville Thursday afternoon.
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The Tigers fell to 6-1 overall, 2-1 in the SWC; the Maroons improved to 4-5 overall, 2-1 in the league; the game was moved to Edwardsville from West, the original location, due to wet grounds.
West got to Tiger pitcher Jordyn Henricks in the first, getting a run on a sacrifice fly before loading the bases for Dunn's slam. The Tigers countered with three in the third on a sacrifice fly by Henricks that followed a Lauren Taplin triple and a Maria Smith two-run double that drove home Anna Burke and Sarah Hangsleben; the teams traded runs in the fourth before West scored in the sixth and Edwardsville in the seventh.
Henricks was 1-for-1 with a RBI, Burke 1-for-4, Hangsleben 1-for-4, Smith 2-for-3 with the double, two RBIs and a run scored, Brooke Weber 2-for-4, Lauren Tripp 1-for-2 and Taplin 2-for-4 with the triple and a run scored. Henricks took the loss, conceding six runs (five earned) on six hits while walking two and fanning five in 3.2 innings; Meghan Gorniak tossed 3.1 innings, giving up an earned run on five hits while walking one and dismissing three by strikeout.
EHS hosts Triad at 4:15 p.m. today and heads to Normal Community for a 1 p.m. Saturday game with the Iron before hosting Belleville East at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
