EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's softball team got some big performances from Jordyn Henricks and Maria Smith in their IHSA Class 4A Pekin Sectional semifinal game against Belleville East Tuesday afternoon.
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Smith went 3-for-3, including a double and homer and had two RBIs, while Henricks conceded only one hit – a fourth-inning double to Alyssa Krausz – as the Tigers advanced to Saturday's sectional final in Pekin with a 3-0 win over East at the EHS Sports Complex.
Edwardsville will take on Rock Island – 4-0 winners Tuesday over Bradley-Bourbonnais in the other semifinal game – at 11 a.m. Saturday for a trip to the Normal Super-Sectional at Illinois State at 4:30 p.m. Monday against either Minooka, Frankfort Lincoln-Way East or Lockport Township, whoever emerges from the Joliet West Sectional. The super-sectional winner moves into next weekend's Class 4A state tournament at East Peoria's EastSide Centre.
“She (Henricks) threw a great game,” said Tiger coach Lori Blade. “She had some really close pitches that we didn't get, but she was just right around it pretty much it the whole day; to shut them out tells you she threw a pretty good game, but they (Henricks' defense) made some nice catches behind her and had some good, solid defense behind her.”
Smith's solo homer in the bottom of the fourth staked the Tigers to a 2-0 lead after she had doubled in the bottom of the first to bring in a run. “She's strong,” Blade said of the sophomore third baseman, “and she's quick; if she gets it, that's like the one in O'Fallon – if she gets ahold of it, it's going, just as strong as she is.”
The win over the Lancers was the third one this season for EHS; it didn't come easily, Blade felt. “It's not,” Blade said of the third win of the year over East. “They are so good; it's a battle with them just because of traditionally how good they are – look at the record year in and year out. It's just an outstanding job by our kids to come in and really battle with them all the time; Natalie (Peters, the Lancer coach) does a great job – to do what we've done against them is pretty special.”
East hasn't defeated the Tigers since 2013. “I can't really tell you what it is why we haven't beat them since 2013,” Peters said. “I don't think it's for lack of effort, I don't think our kids are intimidated; for whatever reason, it never seems like we can get a break – we don't play the game that we're capable of playing against them at times.
“We're not going to stop trying, I can tell you that; they've got a great program, they've built a huge legacy here and I was just kind of coming into this around the time Lori took over and she's done amazing things. Our kids were ready to play and they were prepared and they were coming here trying to win this game.”
Edwardsville's first run came in the bottom of the first when Anna Burke reached on a fielder's choice to bring Smith up; Smith then lined a shot down the line in left that just eluded Kenzie Crowder's glove for an RBI double that made it 1-0 for the Tigers; Smith came up again in the fourth and took a Kristina Bettis offering over the fence in left-center for a solo homer to up the lead to 2-0.
Henricks had the Lancers under control the entire game, striking out only one but never allowing a runner past second base; she only allowed three baserunners on the entire game, once on an error, once on a hit and once on a walk, retiring the last seven Lancer hitters in a row.
EHS' final run came in the sixth when Emma Lucas led off with a walk; singles from Burke and Smith loaded the bases and an error on a pickoff play allowed Lucas to come home, but big defensive plays from East never allowed another run to come home.
Besides Smith's 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored, Burke was 1-for-3 with a run scored and Brooke Weber was 1-for-2 with a double on the day.
