South Central Middle School softball will be making their fourth consecutive trip to the IESA 1A State Softball Tournament after claiming another Sectional Championship, this year’s coming after a 7-1 win over Martinsville in the Hustonville 1A Sectional. The Lady Falcons wasted no time getting on base and on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning as Skylar Webster drew a leadoff walk, stole second, stole third and then scored on an error on the Martinsville shortstop who was making a play on a ground ball from Claire Chasteen who also reached base on the play and went to second on the error. Alexa Gile singled to left field to score Chasteen and put South Central up 2-0. Two scoreless innings later, Martinsville picked up their first and only run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the Lady Falcons lead in half, 2-1. The fifth inning saw the two competing pitchers retire the side before scoring picked up again in the top of the sixth inning as South Central bust the game open. Leading off the inning, Gile drove the ball over the left field fence for a solo home run to push the lead back to two runs, 3-1, and then with two outs and the bases loaded, Skylar Webster hit an RBI single to score Jayda Neilson and push the lead to 4-1 with bases still loaded. Rylan Williams, the Falcons pitcher, then helped herself out and drilled a line drive past the Martinsville centerfielder and to the fence, bringing in three runs and leaving her diving headfirst into third base for a triple that pushed the Lady Falcons lead to 7-1. That big inning was all South Central needed as Martinsville was only able to put a runner on base by walk in the bottom of the sixth inning and neither team had any baserunners in the seventh. The Sectional Championship is the fourth in a row and fourth overall for South Central as they move to 18-4 on the season and move onto the IESA 1A State Tournament this weekend at Champion Fields in Normal. The Lady Falcons will play at 3:30pm on Friday in the State Quarterfinals against Pontiac St. Mary’s who is 19-2 on the season after beating South Wilmington in their own Pontiac Sectional. A win on Friday would put them in the Final Four and guarantee a trophy finish at the tournament.
South Central Pitching:
Rylan Williams – 7 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 13 K
South Central Offense:
Skylar Webster – 1-3, BB, 2 R, RBI
Rylan Williams – 1-4, Triple, 3 RBI
Claire Chasteen – R
Alexa Gile – 2-4, Home Run, R, 2 RBI
Bella McDowell – 1-4, Double
Jayda Neilson – 1-3, R
Rya Sidwell – BB, R
Ophie Lowry – BB, R
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