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EDWARDSVILLE – Megan Bailey went four-for-four with two RBIs, and Piasa Southwestern scored three times in both the first two innings as the Piasa Birds collected 17 hits in defeating Edwardsville 12-8 Wednesday afternoon at the Edwardsville Sports Complex.
Eight of the nine batters in the Southwestern lineup had at least one hit, and the Birds scored in five of the seven innings.
The Birds’ offense is one of the keys to their team, with no easy outs in the lineup.
“Well, I knew that coming in,” said Edwardsville coach Lori Blade. “I don’t know if the kids realize that, and I tell them, and I don’t know if they don’t believe me or what, but when you score 10 runs off of Columbia in the first inning when they were 30-2 last year, you get it. And that’s what they do, and Southwestern is free swingers. We haven’t played them for a few years, but I know that from my experience. So, good ball club. The kid (pitcher Sydney Baumgartner) put the ball where she wanted to put it. The first couple of innings, we had chances. Moe (Kastens) had that chance in the first inning, we put two across the board, that might change the mentality a little bit, because you get comfortable with that lead, and when we had the chance to tighten it up and really put some pressure back on them, and we just didn’t do it until later.”
The Tigers didn’t quit and kept plugging away, rallying with three runs in the seventh, but couldn’t get over the hump.
“We didn’t quit,” Blade said. “We got down, we struggled pitching, hitting spots, and they hit the ball hard. And we didn’t make some plays that we are capable of making. So it was just a bad combo today, not pitching real well and hitting spots. Trying, but and then not making some plays we should make. But we didn’t quit. That’s exactly what I told them; I was proud of their effort for that, and their mentality to compete. But we were just not good enough yet right now to give up runs like we did today and still be in a game.”
Southwestern coach Peg Mitchell felt that her team feels that her team’s hitting is one of the things they have to do to be successful.
“That’s one of the things we know we have to do, we have to hit,” Mitchell said. “And we’ve been doing that so far, well this year. The thing we’ve been weak on is leaving some runners on base, so I was really pleased today to see us hit the ball and get the runners off the base, and not leave a lot stranded.”
The Birds did strand 11 in the game but scored the 12 runs, which made things better.
“It’s one of those things where we still left 11 on,” Mitchell said, “but the positive side of that is we had 11 on. So we’ve had games where we’ve left a few runners that we didn’t get some two-out hits; today, we got some two-out hits, and we did some things.”
The Tigers were able to cut the Southwestern lead to 6-3 in the third, but the Birds responded with four runs, including a bases-clearing double that gave Southwestern momentum.
“It’s huge,” Mitchell said. “That’s an easy call on that aspect, to look at that and go ‘was that a big play?’ Well, that’s a huge play. The nice thing about that is that our baserunners ran hard, and they did the things they were supposed to do, and we were able to get three people in on that.”
Southwestern did have runners on in every inning except the seventh and kept the momentum going throughout the game.
“Correct,” Mitchell said. “You know, this team, last year as young as they were, kind of rewrote the record books at Southwestern in the hitting category. And they’re on pace to break their own records. So, we talk about a lot of difference between a good team and a great team, and we’re hoping that we’re going to make that transition from a good team to a great team.”
The Birds jumped ahead in the first inning, as Mayci Wilderman drew a walk to open the proceedings, then scored one out later on a Molly Novack double to left field. Bailey singled for the first of her four hits on the day, then went to second on a wild pitch as Josie Boulion walked to load the bases. Hannah Nixon singled home Novack and Bailey to give the Birds a 3-0 lead. The Tigers did have a chance to cut into the lead in the bottom of the inning, getting one out singles from Kay Swanson and Maria Smith, but couldn’t score.
Southwestern then doubled its lead in the second, starting with a lead-off walk to Ashleigh Watts and a one-out single by Bri Roloff. A Bailey single brought home Watts, and a two-run single by Nixon gave Southwestern a 6-0 lead.
Edwardsville halved the lead in the bottom of the third, getting one out singles from Swanson and Smith, coming home on a double by Lexi Gorniak, who then scored on an error on the play by the third baseman to cut the lead to 6-3. The Birds then came up with four in the top of the fourth to reclaim the momentum, starting with Bailey’s third hit of the day, a single. Bailey went to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on when Boulion reached on an error. An infield single by Hannah Nixon loaded the bases, and Bailee Nixon cleared them on a triple to right field, scoring three. Bailee Nixon came home when Bailee Sorgea reached on an error to make it 10-3, and Southwestern threatened to score more, but Roloff was called out on an infield fly to the second baseman, and Novack grounded out to third to end the inning.
The Tigers did get a run back in the bottom of the fourth on a home run by Jayna Connoyer to left center, but the Birds came back with a run in the fifth, on an RBI single by Sorgea that scored Boulion. Edwardsville got the run back in the bottom of the inning as Swanson led off by reaching on an error by the center fielder, going to second on another error and to third on a ground out, then scoring on an RBI grounder to short by Gorniak.
Southwestern got its final run in the sixth, as Wilderman, Roloff and Novack all singled to load the bases, and a sacrifice fly by Bailey to center scored Wilderman, with Roloff being thrown out at third on the play to make it 12-5.
The Tigers got rallied in the seventh with three runs, starting with a lead-off single by Sydney Lawrence. One out later, Swanson connected on a homer that cleared the right-center field fence to cut the lead to 12-7, then Smith reached on an error by the shortstop and came home on a Gorniak double. But Kastens lined out to second and Mackenzie Owens ground out to third to end the game.
Baumgartner went all the way to gain the win for the Birds, striking out two in the game.
The Tigers are now 2-1 and host Breese Mater Dei Catholic on Saturday morning in a 10 a.m. start, while Southwestern improves to 4-1 and hosts Civic Memorial Thursday and Jersey on Friday, with the first pitch in both games coming at 4:30 p.m. Bailey is a big part of the Birds’ attack, with her four-for-four game, and is that key cog in the lineup.
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