ALTON – Maria Smith hit a three-run homer to dead center to climax a four-run seventh inning that gave Edwardsville a dramatic 10-6 win over Alton in a Southwestern Conference softball game Thursday afternoon at Alton High School.
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The win clinched their seventh consecutive conference championship for the Tigers, who go to 10-1 in the league, while Alton fell to 8-4 in the SWC.
The Redbirds trailed 6-3 in the fifth and got a base hit from Abby Scyoc and an RBI triple from Ashlyn Betz to make it 6-4, and after a walk to Lynna Fischer, Abby Sullivan came up with a double that drove home Betz and Fischer to tie the game up 6-6. Sullivan was thrown out at third on the play.
The Redbirds then put two runners on in the sixth, but Kay Swanson came up with a big catch against the fence in dead center field to take away an RBI hit by Betz to keep the game tied. The Tigers would take the lead for good in the top of the seventh, loading the bases when Jayna Connoyer drove in the lead run on a ground out to score Ellie Viox that made the score 7-6. With a base open and two out, the Redbirds decided to pitch to Smith, and Smith came through with her homer that just cleared the fence in center to make the score 10-6. Lauren Dial then retired Alton in order to preserve the win.
Smith and Moe Kastens each had two hits and three RBIs for Edwardsville, while Katherine Bobinski-Boyd had three hits and drove home a run, and Mackenzie Owens also had two hits.
Betz had three hits on the day for the Redbirds, while Tami Wong and Scyoc both had two hits, with Scyoc also hitting a home run. Audrey Evola and Sullivan had the other hits for Alton.
Ryleigh Owens struck out four for the Tigers, while Allyson Haegele fanned one for the Redbirds.
Edwardsville improves to 22-4 overall and finishes its regular season Friday at home against Belleville West in a 4:30 p.m. start. Alton is now 21-8 on the season and plays at Triad on Friday in a 4 p.m. start, then has two games on Saturday, hosting Jersey at 10 a.m and Granite City at 1 p.m, then concludes the regular season at Waterloo on Monday in a 4:15 p.m. start.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
