The bats for South Central Middle School softball were hot to the tune of 13 hits in an 18-8 win in five innings over Pontiac St. Mary’s in the quarterfinals of the IESA 1A State Tournament on Friday. The Lady Falcons also showed a lot of patience at the plate, drawing seven walks in the game including a walk drawn by Rylan Williams in the top of the first inning that turned into the first run of the game on an RBI double by Alexa Gile to put South Central up 1-0. The Saints tied the game up at 1-1 in the bottom of the first but the Lady Falcons responded with three runs in the top of the second inning off of a line drive single from Ophie Lowry, an RBI groundout from Skylar Webster and a St. Mary’s error as the Lady Falcons led 4-1 midway through the second. St. Mary’s was able to put four runs across the plate to take their first lead of the game, 5-4, in the bottom of the second. The Falcons put a pair of runners on base in the top of the third but those runners were stranded on a pair of strikeouts to end the half inning but South Central pitcher Williams would retire the side in the bottom of the third by strikeout to keep it a 5-4 ballgame through three innings. The offense started spinning again for the Lady Falcons in the top of the fourth inning with singles from Lowry and Williams and Webster reaching on a fielder’s choice. Williams and Webster scored on a St. Mary’s error by the third baseman who was fielding a bunt put down by Claire Chasteen down the third base line as the Lady Falcons retook the lead 6-5. Gile singled and with Bella McDowell at the plate, Chasteen scored on a passed ball and then McDowell drilled a line drive to center field to bring in Gile and then scored herself on a passed ball to put South Central up 9-5 midway through the fourth. St. Mary’s pulled to within a run 9-8 to end the fourth inning, but that again fired up the Lady Falcons who would bring five runs across the plate in the top of the fifth inning before even recording their first out of the inning to push the lead out to 14-8. With the St. Mary’s pitchers rattled and having been swapped back and forth, South Central took advantage of two more wild pitches before a big triple by Webster to centerfield brought another run in for an 18-8 lead for the Falcons. Needing just three outs to seal the quarterfinal win, the eighth grader Williams stepped up again in the circle and picked up two quick strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth before allowing a walk. South Central was unfazed though and Webster would complete a routine 6-3 put out to end the game and close out the run rule win, 18-8, and send South Central to the semifinals. The Lady Falcons are now 19-4 on the season and will face off with Mendota Holy Cross at 11:30am this morning in the second semifinal game. The winner will move on to the 1A Championship game at 3:30pm while the game’s losing team will play at 1:30pm in the Third Place game.
South Central Pitching:
Rylan Williams – 5 IP, 8 R, 6 H, 5 BB, 10 K
South Central Offense:
Skylar Webster – 1-5, 2 R, 2 RBI
Rylan Williams – 2-4, BB, 3 R
Claire Chasteen – 1-4, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI
Alexa Gile – 2-5, 2 R, 3 RBI
Bella McDowell – 3-4, 2 R, 2 RBI
Lexy Garrett – 2-2, 2 BB, 2 R
Jayda Neilson – R
Rya Sidwell – BB, R
Ophie Lowry – 2-2, 2 BB, 3 R, RBI
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