SOFTBALL: Lady Falcons eliminated after squandering lead
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Elverado led 4-1 heading into the sixth inning of their Class A Steeleville Softball Regional semifinal on Wednesday, but couldn't hold on, allowing Shawnee (Wolf Lake) to storm back for a 12-4 win.
"We played another great game - for five innings," said Lady Falcons' head coach Donette Wheatley. "We just couldn't finish again."
The Lady Reds got on the scoreboard in the top of the first with a run, but the Lady Falcons answered in the bottom half of the inning. Sami Hicks, who signed to play softball with Rend Lake College on Tuesday, doubled with one out and later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.
Lacey Qualls singled and came in when Meghann Trammel reached on an error in the second for a 2-1 Elverado lead, then Corrine Wilson's one-out double in the third made it 3-1 as Chelsea Cochran crossed the plate. Wilson would later score on a passed ball for a three-run Lady Falcons lead.
Meanwhile, Kelsi Teague was solid through the first five innings on the rubber for Elverado. At one point the senior sent down eight in a row, but she ran into trouble with one out in the top of the sixth inning.
Kaylee Boston belted a solo homer to cut the lead to 4-2, then three straight singles from the Lady Reds and a pair of errors by the Lady Falcons followed. By the time the inning ended, Shawnee had sent all nine hitters to the plate and grabbed a 6-4 advantage.
The Lady Reds piled on six more runs in the seventh inning to cruise to victory.
"We had one out in the top of the sixth and Boston hit that solo home run," Wheatley said. "We were still winning 4-2 and then we had a couple of errors. They had a two-run shot and our heads went down. We couldn't recover."
Elverado did manage to turn two more double plays on defense in the game, giving them 23 on the season.
"I think that in itself is an unusual feat for a softball team," Wheatley said. "I feel bad for our seniors to end the season that way!"
Eight Lady Falcons registered hits, including two from Abby Grammer (2-3). Hicks (1-4, R), Teague (1-4), Cochran (1-4, R), Wilson (1-3, BB, R, RBI), Qualls (1-3, R), Erika Will (1-3) and Alicen Khoo-Torres (1-3) also had hits for EHS.
Third seed Shawnee moves on to face number one seed Trico at Steeleville on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. in the Regional Championship. Second-seeded Elverado finishes up the 2011 season at 6-16.