EDWARDSVILLE - Senior pitcher Ryleigh Owens had a magnificent day in the circle, facing two batters over the minimum, striking out 12 and retiring the final 17 consecutive batters after allowing a second-inning double as Edwardsville scored twice in the opening inning in going on to a 4-0 win over Belleville West in a Southwestern Conference softball game Thursday afternoon at the Edwardsville Sports Complex.
Owens was dominant in the circle against a Maroons' team that has been hitting the ball well and scoring runs in droves in building a now 6-4 record early in the season. And Owens was being herself, mixing pitches well and keeping the West hitters off balance all afternoon.
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"She was," said Edwardsville head coach Lori Blade. "She was really good today. She moved the ball around like, Lexie (Griffin) was great receiving, but she mixed in all of her pitches, her location was good, her off-speed was good. But what's more impressive than that is to shut Belleville West down, because they are a group of hitters. They've scored a lot of runs this year and for Ryleigh to get the shutout was really important."
The Tigers gave Owens the run support she needed in the first, fourth and sixth innings, which was very timely as well.
"It was," Blade said. "We put enough together to get a few and kind of sat on it. But some kids, we have to be a little bit more disciplined at the plate and get better pitches to hit. (Payton Todd) did a really good job of keeping us off-balance and our pitch selection needs to be a little bit better."
The Tigers continue to roll after their season-opening loss to Freeburg and are also continuing to turn things around and keep thins moving in the right direction.
"It is," Blade said. "I"m proud of their effort. When we did hit it, we hit it hard. We found a couple of gaps and just really put the ball in play well at good times."
The Tigers went to work in the bottom of the first with one out. Avery Hamilton reached on an error by the first baseman, then was tripled home by Jillian Lane to give Edwardsville a 1-0 lead. The Tigers then doubled the lead on an RBI single by Emily Wolff to score Lane and make it 2-0.
In the fourth, with two out, Owens helped herself with a single, then scored on Hamilton's double to the gap in right-center to give Edwardsville a 3-0 lead. In the sixth, Tatum Van Ryswyk tripled to the fence in left-center and then scored when Zoie Boyd's grounder was fielded by the catcher, who threw Boyd out at first, with Van Ryswyk scoring on the play when the return throw was late to make it 4-0.
Meanwhile, Owens was dominant in the circle, allowing only two baserunners on the day, a leadoff walk to Aubrey Weaver to start the game and a one-out double to Elise Gibson in the second, retiring the final 17 batters in a row, striking out 12 as the Tigers went on to the win.
Edwardsville is now 5-1 and are scheduled to play a key game at Triad on Friday before hosting Marquette Catholic on Monday, traveling to Belleville East for another key game Tuesday and hosting East St. Louis Apr. 14, with all games starting at 4:30 p.m. The Friday weather forecast isn't promising for the Tigers' date at the Knights.
"We'll see, we'll see," Blade said. "The elements don't look real good for tomorrow, with snow showers in the morning. But as of right now, it's still on."
Blade is very happy with the Tigers' continuing turnaround and feels that the team is in a very good position.
"I am," Blade said. "I'm pleased with where we're at, they're working hard, cheering each other on, the chemistry's good and it's showing in their performances."
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
