Softball games, at times, can turn on the simplest plays. Even what seems like an insignificant play at the moment it happens can loom large later on.
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Just ask Piasa Southwestern, who held a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh of their IHSA Class 2A Roxana Regional play-in game against the host Shells Monday evening at Roxana Community Park.
A botched fielder's choice put two Shell runners on base, and another error led to the tying runs coming in before Lindsay Scroggins' RBI single that brought home Shelby Jackson gave Roxana a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Piasa Birds and sent RHS to a semifinal date at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday against top-seeded Dupo. Second-seeded East Alton-Wood River will take on Staunton in the nightcap at 7 p.m., with Tuesday's winners meeting at 11 a.m. Saturday with the regional crown and a trip to the Williamsville Sectional on the line.
“I got a good pitch to hit, and it felt like a winner,” Scroggins said. “We were keeping a positive attitude even when we fell behind.”
“We never gave up,” added pitcher Hannah Rexford, who struck out 12 Piasa Birds. “Even when we were behind, we felt good about things and stayed positive. We never felt like we were going to lose.”
“It was great not to see the kids give up, even when we were two runs behind,” said Shell coach Mike Arbuthnot. “We'd played them twice recently and we had some inability to adjust to their pitcher (Bailee Stahl) this time. We knew we were facing a pretty good pitcher; we just had to make sure we held our hands back when we swing and hit the ball hard.”
“Our pitcher did what we needed,” said Southwestern coach Peg Mitchell. “Her location was pretty good all day, we just didn't field that well. We didn't take advantage of what we were given today, but at the same time, you have to give them credit; they made us make some plays.
“It was going to be a game where the team that made the least mistakes would win, and they made some good plays.”
For a time, though, it seemed like the Piasa Birds were the team that was going to advance. Both Rexford and Stahl had two good opening innings – Rexford had five strikeouts in the first seven batters she faced, giving up only a single to Ashlyn Ringhausen in the first – but Southwestern broke through in the third when Whitney Runyon reached on an error when Rexford took a ground ball and pulled Cindy Scroggins off the bag making the throw. Reagan Rinacke then singled to put runners at first and second and Shelby Salzman sacrificed them both over.
Mallory Novack then lined out to second, but trying to double Runyon off third, Alex Stumpf threw the ball away, allowing Runyon to score and hand the Birds a 1-0 lead.
Stahl kept the Shells at bay most of the day – at one point, she had retired 10 in a row – and in the top of the sixth, Piasa seemingly salted the game away when Hannah Inman walked and Rachel Baldwin connected on Rexford's first offering of the at-bat deep to left-center for a triple, bringing home Inman and giving the Piasa Birds a seemingly insurmountable 2-0 lead.
Then came the decisive home half of the seventh, which began almost innocently enough when Abby Palen led off with a walk. Cindy Scroggins then grounded sharply to Rinacke, who attempted to force Palen at second but threw the ball away, putting runners at first and second. Stahl got Phoebe Booher to fly out to left, but Shelby Jackson stroked a single to left to score Palen and when the ball got away from Megan Peuterbaugh, Cindy Scroggins scored to tie the game and put Jackson at second.
Sam Sherer then singled to put runners at the corners, bringing up Lindsey Scroggins, and the senior delivered a single to right on a 0-1 pitch that brought home Jackson with the winning run.
Lindsey Scroggins was 1-for-3 with a RBI for the Shells, while Jackson was 1-for-3 a RBI and a run scored, Sherer was 1-for-3 and Elizabeth Rexford was 1-for-3. For the Piasa Birds, Ringhausen and and Baldwin were both 1-for-3, with Baldwin having a triple and a RBI. Runyon and Inman both had runs scored for Southwestern.
Stahl gave up just four hits and two earned runs while dismissing two by strikeout; Hannah Rexford gave up three hits and one earned run while fanning 10.
