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EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's softball team kept battling Tuesday afternoon in a Southwestern Conference home game against O'Fallon, bouncing back from 2-1 down in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a bases-loaded walk that scored Ellie Viox to tie the game and an RBI single from Jordyn Henricks that brought home Katherine Bobinski-Boyd with the winning run to give the Tigers a 3-2 win over the Panthers.
The win sent EHS to 5-2 overall, 4-0 in the SWC on the year, while the Panthers fell to 8-5 and 5-2 in the league.
Tiger coach Lori Blade was happy with Henricks' performance in the pitching circle; she struck out four in five-plus innings of work, but felt her team could have given her some more run support. “We should have scored more than one run to back her up,” Blade said. “I thought she (Henricks) threw really well; they got the one big hit but they looped a couple in – just tough muscle hits – but they made some really nice plays behind her.
“She threw really well, but we have to score more than one for her. They just didn't quit; they got a little flat after they scored that one and the kid had a triple and that concerned me, but we had just enough time to rally back.”
Regardless of the types of wins the Tigers have gotten recently – the one against the Panthers Tuesday and the one last week against Belleville West – Blade believes her team is a confident group. “With nine seniors, they're pretty confident,” Blade said. “They stay on a pretty even keel – they didn't over-celebrate that (win). They're pretty confident and they stay on an even keel like I want them to, but these have been big wins for us just to get back in the flow and get going again.
“Confidence means a lot and you have to be able to finish a job and not get down, even when we got down on the scoreboard and still have the confidence to dig in and compete – the type of mentality that this group has is really important.”
The Tigers broke out on top in the bottom of the second when Maria Smith, leading off the inning, got ahold of a Kaitlin Moore delivery and took it over the fence in right-center to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead; Lexi Gorniak and Makenzie Owens then both singled to put runners at the corners, but EHS couldn't get them home; Moore then held Edwardsville at bay from that points while Henricks did the same for the Tigers, managing to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the third to keep the Tigers ahead and also finding a way out of a fourth-inning situation thanks to a fielder's choice at home and an opportune unassisted double play by Owens when he speared a line-drive and doubled off a runner at first to end the inning.
O'Fallon got to Henricks in the sixth when Ashley Schloer singled to open the inning and came home on a RBI triple from Kelly Short; Megan Gorniak came in to pitch, but Hayleigh Juenger's one-out RBI single put the Panthers on top 2-1.
Then came the bottom of the seventh, which began with a Taryn Brown single and an Emma Lewis pinch single to put runners at first and second, with Viox coming in to run for Brown and Bobinski-Boyd coming in to run for Lewis; Moe Karstens then reached on an error to load the bases to bring up Brooke Webber, who managed to draw a walk from Juenger to bring in Viox with the tying run and send Henricks to the plate.
Henricks then drove a shot down the line in left that found a hole for an RBI single and bring in Bobinski-Boyd with the winning run.
Smith led the Tigers with a 2-for-3 day with the homer, RBI and run scored while Henricks was 1-for-4 with the game-winning RBI and Webber with the game-tying RBI; Lexi Gorniak, Brown, Lewis and Owens also had hits on the day for the Tigers.
Henricks' single made a winner out of Megan Gorniak, who struck out one for Edwardsville; Juenger was charged with the loss, with both her and Moore striking out one each.
The Tigers head to Granite City for a league game against the Warriors at 4:30 p.m. today at Wilson Park/George Sykes Field before taking on Collinsville at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Collinsville Sports Complex and hosting Marquette Catholic at 4:15 p.m. Friday.
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