EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's softball team battled back from 3-0 down in the third inning and then 5-3 down in the 10th inning and found a way to take a 6-5 Southwestern Conference victory from Belleville East at the EHS softball grounds Tuesday afternoon. The win put the Tigers at 3-2 on the year, 2-0 in the SWC; the Maroons fell to 2-4 overall, 1-2 in the league.
“It was a gut-check for us, that's for sure,” said Tiger coach Lori Blade about the win; Edwardsville was coming off a tough 3-0 loss the day before to Chatham Glenwood. “I was really proud of how Jordyn (Henricks) threw and Megan (Gorniak) threw and then our defense, with Emma (Lewis) going out and having to rotate to some different positions. We had some good at-bats, some big at-bats and getting down – we just bounced back and wouldn't quit; that's what I want to see out of them.
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“They weren't going to go down easy, which was awesome to see; lately, we haven't been able to catch a break here or there; we've had a lot of kids on in close games and we just couldn't break it open. Hopefully, this will get us over the hump and see how it goes from here.”
That the Tigers were able to bounce back after a tough loss the evening before made Blade very happy. “Absolutely,” Blade said, “especially getting down early and bouncing right back.”
Both teams had opportunities to score in the first two innings, but West broke through in a big way in the top of the third when Claire Marlen led off with a single and went to second on an Aleigha Cory walk to bring up Emily Twellman, who got ahold of a Henricks pitch and sent it over the fence in right-center to give the Maroons a 3-0 lead.
Undaunted, the Tigers kept battling and broke through themselves in the fifth when Lexi Gorniak singled and Brooke Webber, attempting to sacrifice, reached beat out a throw to reach first and put two runners on; Henricks sacrificed both runners over to bring up Lauren Taplin, who reached on an error to bring in Lexi Gorniak to cut the Maroon lead to 3-1.
Taplin then stole second and Anna Burke grounded to short to bring in Webber; Maria Smith then stepped up and singled in Taplin to tie the game at 3-3. West took the lead back in the top of the 10th when Taylor Geluck opened the inning with a fly-ball double off the fence in right-center, going to third when an Abby Gibson grounder to Megan Gorniak in the circle couldn’t be handled cleanly, putting runners at first and third. Marlen then singled in Geluck to give the Maroons the lead back; one out later, Gibson came home on a Cory single to put the Maroons up 5-3.
Edwardsville answered when they came to bat; Tripp reached base after being hit by a Paige Cates pitch with two out and pinch runner Katherine Bobinsky-Boyd then reached third when Lexi Gorniak doubled to center to put runners at second and third; Webber than doubled both in to tie the game at 5-5, then Edwardsville won it in the 11th when Taplin drew a walk to start the inning, going to second on an error that allowed Burke to reach base before Smith stepped up and delivered the game-winning single to bring in Taplin.
Webber went 2-for-5 on the day with a double, two RBIs and a run scored, with Lexi Gorniak 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, Burke 1-for-5 with a triple and RBI, Taplin 1-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, Smith 3-for-5 with two RBIs, Taryn Brown 1-for-5 and Bobinski-Boyd a run scored. Henricks went six innings and struck out six while Megan Gorniak got the win in relief, going five innings and fanning two. Paige Gates went 10 innings and fanned 11 for the Maroons while Mackenzie Skaer took the loss.
Next for the Tigers is a Thursday SWC game at Belleville East at 4:30 p.m., then home games against Breese Mater Dei Friday and Staunton Saturday; Friday’s game starts at 4:30 p.m. and Saturday’s game starts at 11 a.m.
