EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's softball team knew what they needed to do against Belleville East at home Tuesday afternoon.
“It was important that we put the ball in play, press a little bit and the kids really responded well in completely different situations throughout the game, which was really good to see,” said Tiger coach Lori Blade of EHS' 10-5 Southwestern Conference win over the Lancers at the EHS Sports Complex, taking the Tigers to 10-1 on the year, 3-1 in the SWC; East fell to 10-2 overall, 4-1 in the league.
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Lauren Taplin led the Tigers on the day with a 3-for-4 day at the plate with a RBI and two runs scored, plus made some big plays in the field that helped Edwardsville. “She did a nice job,” Blade said. “We had some key at-bats at key times where the kids came through; what we weren't doing before, putting the ball in play in key situations and moving runners – we did that today. That makes a difference in a game a lot of times.”
The Tigers had taken a 4-0 lead early on, scoring four times in the first, highlighted by RBI singles from Sarah Hangsleben, Maria Smith and Taplin before the Lancers rallied behind a three-run homer from Allysa Krausz – one of two she would hit on the day – in the second and a RBI double in the third from Alex Boze that drew East even.
Edwardsville responded with a three-run third that included a RBI single from Taplin and a two-run double from Mackenzie Owens that put the Tigers up to stay at 7-4. “It was a really good response for us to bounce back and threaten and be able to come through with it,” Blade said. “It's what I expected with our kids in this program, but for them to actually show it after last week's tough one (a loss to Belleville West), I'm really proud of where we're at today.”
From there, Jordyn Henricks shut down the Lancer offense, giving up only a solo shot from Krausz in the sixth. “We gotta figure out what we need to pitch to that kid,” Blade said. “We'll get it figured out; the best part of the second one was that nobody was on. She had a great day at the plate.”
Anna Burke went 2-for-3 on the day with two runs scored for the Tigers, with Taryn Brown 1-for-3 with a RBI and run scored, Hangsleben 1-for-4 with a RBI and two runs scored, Henricks 1-for-4 with a double, Owens 1-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, Smith 1-for-3 with a RBI and two runs scored, Brooke Weber 1-for-3 and Kylee Meyers a RBI. Henricks gave up four earned runs on 11 hits while striking out one in getting the win.
Next up for EHS is a trip to O'Fallon for a league game at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and an 11 a.m. home doubleheader Saturday against Rochester before traveling to Granite City's Wilson Park/George Sykes Field for a 4:30 p.m. Tuesday league game against the Warriors.
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