SOFTBALL: Pitching struggles as Falcons' season ends
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Pinckneyville Falcons averaged over seven runs per game in the 2011 Illinois ASA Mens' Class C Fastpitch state tournament this past weekend in Decatur, but managed just one win as they allowed 29 combined runs in two Saturday losses to eventual champion Nokomis and third place Jumpin' Jimmy's.
The Falcons beat Jumpin' Jimmy's 8-6 on Friday night in round one of the tournament behind seventh inning RBI's from Eric Saunders and Haven Hicks, but couldn't do it again on Saturday night as their pitching struggled, allowing 13 hits and 5 walks in a 15-7 loss.
In between contests with Jimmy's, Pinckneyville fell 14-7 to Nokomis on Saturday afternoon in the winner's bracket after trailing by just one run heading into the sixth inning. Nokomis went on to claim the Class C championship on Sunday with a 6-3 victory over the Villa Grove Knights.
One bright spot for the Falcons was the hot bat of Mason Woodside, who was the only Pinckneyville player to be named to the All-Tournament team on Sunday. Woodside was 5-for-11 with 2 home runs and 10 RBI in the Falcons' 3 games.
The two homers gave Woodside 5 round-trippers in his last 6 games and 16 for the season, tying Saunders' Falcons' team record.
"Mason had another great weekend, he had an outstanding season," said Saunders, head coach of the Falcons. "The last couple years he's been kind of unknown, he played some outfield for us and we had to find a place for his bat in the lineup. We asked him to catch, he said he'd give it a shot, and he's done a pretty good job with it."
"He's really becoming a great fast-pitch player, and he's still young, so I'm glad he's on our team."
Derek Beninati and Haven Hicks also had big weekends at the plate, each registering six hits. Beninati was 6-for-9 and scored 6 runs, Hav. Hicks was also 6-for-9 while scoring 4 times and driving in 3 runs.
"Haven (Hicks) had some clutch hits for us, Derek (Beninati) continued to get on base in front of him," Saunders said. "Derek really bought into being a slap-hitter this year from the left side, and continued to do a good job with that this weekend."
The Falcons got off to a good start in Decatur on Friday night, giving starter Bryant Hale a 6-2 lead after two innings as Woodside cleared the bases with a grand-slam in the top of the second.
Hale ended up going six innings and allowing six runs, but Saunders and Hav. Hicks each had RBIs in the seventh to set John Kiselewski up for the 1-2-3 save in the 8-6 victory.
Hav. Hicks led the way with three hits (3-4, R, 2B, BB, RBI), Beninati (2-3, 2 R, 2B, BB, HBP), Lyle Winter (2-3, R, 2B, BB, RBI) and Travis Klingler (2-4, 2 R, 2 2B) each had two. Woodside (1-3, R, HR, 4 RBI, BB), Kiselewski (1-4, 3B) and Saunders (1-4, RBI) also hit safely on Friday.
Hav. Hicks continued to swing the bat well against Nokomis on Saturday, belting a two-run shot in the top of the first for an early Falcons' lead. Nokomis responded with two runs of their own off of Kiselewski in the bottom half, but then Beninati reached on an error in the top of the second to allow Hayden Hicks to race home for a 3-2 Pinckneyville advantage.
Four hits and a walk led to four runs for Nokomis in the bottom of the second, though, and the Falcons were still behind 6-5 after Hay. Hicks' 2-RBI double in the third.
Woodside delivered in the fourth with his second home run of the state tournament, a two-run shot to make it 7-6 Falcons, but Nokomis pounded Kiselewski, and later Hale, for eight runs in the last two innings to advance in the winners' bracket.
Beninati (2-3, 2 R, BB), Hav. Hicks (2-2, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, SAC), Woodside (2-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI), Hay. Hicks (2-3, R, 2 2B, 2 RBI) and Kiselewski (1-2, R, HBP) had hits against Nokomis.
With each team's tournament lives at stake, Pinckneyville and Jumpin' Jimmy's hooked up again on Saturday night in a game that played out similarly to the Nokomis matchup earlier in the day. Jimmy's pounced on Kiselewski and Hale for ten combined runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to pull away for a 15-7 win.
Beninati (2-3, 2 R, HBP, RBI) and Woodside (2-4, 2B, 4 RBI) stayed hot at the dish with a pair of hits each. Hav. Hicks (1-3, 2 R, BB), Winter (1-3, R, HBP), Klingler (1-4), Kasban (1-3, RBI) and Jay McCrary (1-3, R, 3B) also had hits against Jimmy's on Saturday.
The Falcons' 2011 season ends with a record of 38-25. Saunders expects the majority of this year's players to return again next season, including four pitchers.
"You can never have enough arms," Saunders said.
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