Thursday's prep sports: Rice dominates Chester, Panthers bounce back, Trico sweeps Elverado
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Freshman righthander Cassidy Rice struck out of 23 batters she faced Thursday afternoon, leading Du Quoin High School's girls softball team to a 10-0 whitewash of host Chester at the Bud Cohen Complex.
The Lady Indians, now 13-7, visit Nashville Friday and then play Saturday at the West Frankfort Invitational.
Rice allowed just two hits and walked one as Du Quoin broke things open with a six-run second inning.
"Cassidy came out and pitched her best game of the year," Lady Tribe coach Jason James said.
"That's a career high in strikeouts. She hit her spots very well."
Jessica Hirsch paced Du Quoin's 14-hit offensive parade by going 4-for-5 with a home run (#4). Kelsey Toler, Heather Cavins and Rice all recorded two-hit games.
Chelsea Hill, Erica Rainwater and Ashley Ward also connected for safeties.
Trico 6, Elverado 5
At Campbell Hill, the host Lady Pioneers (5-11, 2-3) scored in the bottom of the seventh to edge Elverado (5-13, 0-3) Thursday.
Sami Hicks, Courtney Morse, Kelsey Tuthill and Meghan Trammel all had two hits.
For Trico, Taylor Bruns knocked in the winning tally with a bases loaded single. At Dowell, Trico blanked Elverado in baseball. The score was 10-0.
PCHS downs Sparta
Thursday at Rigdon Field, Bryant Shute (3-3) struck out four and went the distance with a five-hitter as the Panther baseballers (11-10, 5-4) rolled to victory.
Drew Dudek and Christian Shopinski smashed home runs with Landon Chandler, Adam Barczewski and Shopinski all contributing two hits.
Friday night at 8 p.m., the Panthers play at Pleasant Plains in the Central Illinois Showcase.