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BELLEVILLE – O’Fallon jumped out to a 6-0 lead, scoring four times in the first and twice more in the second, and went on to defeat Edwardsville 7-1 in the IHSA Class 4A Normal Community sectional semifinal at Belleville East’s Rita Menke Field Tuesday afternoon.
The Panthers jumped out quickly in the opening inning, starting with consecutive singles by Miley Brunner and Ashley Schloer, with another single by Kelly Short driving home Brunner with the first run of the game. Courtney Settles walked to load the bases, and Hayleigh Juenger grounded back to pitcher Kay Swanson for the first out, scoring Schloer to make it 2-0 for O’Fallon. After a strikeout, back-to-back singles by Maya Robison and Zoie Howard brought home two more runs to make it 4-0 for the Panthers after the first inning.
In the second, Brunner doubled to lead off the inning, and Ryleigh Owens came in to pitch. Schloer singled to center to score Brunner, and two outs later, Juenger reached on an error, scoring Schloer to make it 6-0 for O’Fallon.
The Tigers were able to get a run back in the bottom of the fourth, everything occurring with two out. Lexi Gorniak reached on an error by the second baseman, and Mackenzie Owens singled to put runners on first and second. Swanson then hit a pop fly that was dropped for an error to score Gorniak, making the score 6-1 after four.
The Panthers countered with a run in the top of the fifth, starting when Juenger drew a walk to open the inning, with courtesy runner Alexis Schoer going to second on a wild pitch, then being sacrificed to third by Grace Dumstorff. A sacrifice fly to center by Howard scored Schloer to make it 7-1. The Tigers did have opportunities in the sixth, on consecutive singles by Moe Kastens and Gorniak, and in the seventh, when Ellie Viox led off the inning with a single and went to second on an error, but Juenger both times shut down the rallies as O’Fallon went on to the 7-1 win.
The Panthers are now 25-9 and advance to the sectional final on Saturday at 11 a.m., going up against the winner of Moline and Rock Island, who will play on Wednesday at Taylor Ridge Rockridge at 4:30 p.m. The Tigers end their season 24-5.
Colin Feeney also contributed to this story.
