(LEBANON, Ill., April 29)- The McKendree College softball team cruised to an American Midwest Conference tournament championship Sunday afternoon over Hannibal-LaGrange College 11-1 in five innings. It was head coach
Evelyn Bean’s third AMC tournament championship in the ten years she’s been at McKendree.
Pitcher
Amy Quirin (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West HS) (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) gave up two hits and struck out six batters in five innings to improve her record to 12-5 on the season. Rightfielder
Andrea Hawkins (St. Peters, Mo./Ft. Zumwalt South) (St. Peters, Mo./Ft. Zumwalt South) was 3-3 in the game with two RBI and designated hitter
Sloane Hertlein (Harrisburg, Ill./Harrisburg) (Harrisburg, Ill./Harrisburg) was 2-3 in the contest.
After the first two Bearcat batters reached on errors, first baseman
Rachael Ostertag (O' Fallon, Mo./Francis Howell) (O’Fallon, Mo./Francis Howell) hit a single up the middle to score a run, only for the centerfielder to throw the ball over the third baseman’s head to score to score another Bearcat runner to make the score 2-0. Following a strikeout and a walk, back-to-back singles by Hertlein and Hawkins each scored one to build a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
After giving up one run in the top of the second, the Bearcat offense continued to produce runs in the second inning. Shortstop
Courtney Aldridge (Dupo, Ill./Dupo) (Dupo, Ill./Dupo) would reach on a fielders choice, scoring leftfielder
Molly Reed (Carrollton, Ill./Carrollton) (Carrollton, Ill./Carrollton) from third and Hawkins hit another RBI single to make the score 6-1 Bearcats. Following a strikeout, second baseman
Leah Cometto (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) hit a double to centerfield to score three to give the Bearcats a 9-1 lead after two innings. The Bearcats pushed the lead to 11-1 in the fourth inning, scoring two runs on wild pitches.
The Bearcats (38-12) now advance to the NAIA Region V tournament May 9-11 in Springfield, Mo. The Bearcats were ranked No. 2 in Region V as of April 23rd and will find out what seed they will be on April 30th.
