BETHALTO – One of the great quotes in sporting history came from an early baseball star named Wee Willie Keeler; what he said about hitting still rings true today.
“Hit 'em where they ain't.”
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Jersey's softball team seemed to be taking that to heart Tuesday as the Panthers pounded out 27 hits as they defeated Civic Memorial 22-10 in six innings in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Bethalto Sports Complex Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers stayed undefeated, going to 10-0 on the year, 1-0 in the MVC; the Eagles fell to 6-4 overall, 0-1 in the league.
“The ball carries well here,” said Panther coach Julie Muenstermann. “Both teams have good hitters; it was just a matter of who outhit who and who made the least amount of errors.”
Going to 10-0 on the year made Muenstermann happy. “I'm not sure that we've ever done that in the history of the program,” Muenstermann said. “That is a good feeling (being undefeated from the start of the season) knowing that these kids are still outdoing themselves from last year. It will give us some momentum going into the rest of the (MVC) games.
“I was hopeful (of a good start this season); we have all of our players back except for Mackenzie (Thurston, who tore an ACL in February in the Panthers' regional basketball loss to Triad), so we're filling that spot. We're not perfect yet; we still have some things to improve on.”
“Up and down the lineup, they were very effective,” said Eagle coach Luke Angelo. “Jerseyville's a good team up and down the lineup and they're actually missing one of their better players in Thurston; they're going to be tough to beat.”
That the Panthers are now 10-0 says something, Angelo thinks. “This coaching staff that they have, they've done a great job and they're only going to get better,” Angelo said. “Their junior high program is effective; they're doing things the right way up in Jerseyville.
“We battled, we were down quite a few (the Panther lead at one point being 12-3) and cut the lead in half and fought back; a couple of calls didn't go our way that we were hoping and that's just the way the game is – a lot of luck goes into playing ball and we didn't have much luck today.”
The Panthers jumped out to an early three-run lead when Chelsea Maag launched a three-run homer in the top of the first over the fence, scoring Ashton Tewell and Caitlyn Connell ahead of her; the Eagles tied it in the bottom of the inning when Rebecca Harkey had a three-run shot of her own that scored Jenna Christeson and Susan Buchanan ahead of her.
Jersey got the lead back with three more in the second and added six in the third to grab a 12-3 lead on CM, highlighted by RBI doubles from Libby Muenstermann and Maag. The Eagles responded with a five-run bottom of the third to pull to 12-8, Gracie Braun highlighting the outburst with a two-run double. A three-run homer from Bethany Muenstermann in the top of the fourth help the Panthers get to a 16-8 lead, Tewell and Libby Muenstermann scoring ahead of Bethany Muenstermann on the shot.
Jersey had a five-run burst in the top of the sixth, highlighted by a two-RBI double from Tewell to put the Panthers ahead at 22-8. CM came up with two more runs in the bottom of the inning but couldn't keep the game alive.
Tewell ended up with a 5-for-5 day with the double, three RBIs and four runs scored; Connell herself was 5-for-5 with a RBI and two runs scored, Maag 4-for-5 with a double and homer, five RBIs and two runs scored, Bethany Muenstermann 3-for-6 with a double and homer, five RBIs and two runs scored, Libby Muenstermann 3-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored and Peyton Tisdale 3-for-5 with four RBIs and three runs scored.
For the Eagles, Harkey was 3-for-4 with the homer, three RBIs and three runs scored, Buchanan 2-for-3 with three runs scored, Braun 1-for-4 with two RBIs and Cassie Reed 1-for-3 with a double and run scored. Bethany Muenstermann got the win, going two-plus innings and giving up seven earned runs on five hits before Tewell took over, going four innings and striking out four. Kaitlynn Wrenn took the loss, going 1.2 innings and giving up six earned runs on eight hits; Ryan Allison and Aubrey Hall also saw time in the circle for CM.
The Eagles now embark on a slate of three big games, two of them in the MVC; they head to Mascoutah for an 11 a.m game today against the Indians, then host Belleville East at 4:15 p.m Friday and travel to Highland for a 4:15 Monday game; the Panthers are at East Alton-Wood River at 4:15 p.m. today, then host Gillespie at 4:30 p.m. Friday and meet Alton at noon Saturday in Brussels.
