SOFTBALL: Lady Panthers hold on to win at Marissa
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Pinckneyville withstood a dismal bottom of the fourth inning in which Marissa scored five times, doing enough damage at the dish themselves to outlast the Lady Meteors 8-6 behind eleven hits from the offense.
"It was good to hit like that again," said Pinckneyville head coach Mike Cheek. "We hadn't hit like that in quite a while and hopefully we'll take some confidence from this win into the next game, and then into the Regional."
Minus the bottom of the fourth, PCHS pitchers Jordan Koenegstien and Taylor Howard allowed just three hits, but a handful of defensive gaffes mixed in with two walks and two base hits led to Marissa's big inning.
"I felt like in the fourth inning we let up," Cheek said. "We thought we're up seven-to-nothing, we've got this game won, and we let up - and it showed. They scored five runs and got right back in the game."
The Lady Panthers had a hit in every inning but the seventh, and broke through in the run column in the third inning on back-to-back-to-back RBI from Taylor Cheek, Shersty Stanton and Melia Bathon.
Cheek drove in three more runs in the top of the fourth with a double and Pinckneyville was in command 7-0.
Mental mistakes and a botched double-play ball all but erased that lead, but after a couple of pep talks, the defense would sharpen up and the Lady Meteors' ground balls and fly balls started turning into outs.
Koenegstien had to be relieved in the fourth after becoming ill in the pitching circle, and from there Howard allowed an unearned run in the sixth and little else.
Jordyn Wieland had an inside-the-park solo homer in the fifth for PCHS's eighth run.
Cheek (3-4, 2B, 4 RBI), Wieland (2-4, HR, 3 R, RBI), Stanton (1-4, RBI), Kala Emling (2-4), Keelyn Stein (1-4) and Alyssa Hirsch (1-3, 2 R) had the hits for Pinckneyville.
The Lady Panthers (17-12) are at Ziegler on Friday. Monday's scheduled game with Cobden has been cancelled, and PCHS is currently looking to fill the slot with another opponent before their first Regional game on Wednesday at Red Bud.
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