SOFTBALL: Goreville's Rushing no-hits Lady Falcons
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Goreville's Sydnee Rushing struck out twelve batters and no-hit Elverado on Tuesday, helping propel the Lady Blackcats into the Regional championship with a 6-0 win in Vergennes.
Shelbey Miller was 4-for-4, scored three times and was just a home run short of the cycle. Taylor Odom added a solo homer for Goreville and finished 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and three runs scored.
Elverado starter Corrine Wilson was fresh off a ten-strikeout performance in the Lady Falcons' 5-0 shutout of Shawnee on Monday, but didn't fare as well against the powerful Lady Blackcats lineup which pounded out thirteen hits.
Miller singled and Odom walked with one out in the bottom of the first to set the table for Haley Darnell's two-run double.
Miller tripled in the third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tiffani Shadowens, then Odom followed with a booming home run to left field to make it 4-0 Goreville.
The Lady Blackcats would tack on a run in the fifth on an RBI by Brittney Pritchett, and another on Shadowens' double in the sixth.
Elverado managed just one baserunner, a leadoff walk by Kelsey Leland in the top of the third inning.
"These girls really did have a great season," said EHS head softball coach Donette Wheatley. "I just wish it wouldn't have ended the way it did. I've got to give them all the credit for gutting it out and finishing at .500. I'm very proud of them."
Darnell (2-4, 2B) and McKenzi Schaede joined Miller and Odom with multiple hits. Shadowens (1-3, 2B, SAC, 2 RBI), Ashlee Webb (1-3) and Alison Webb (1-3) also hit for the Lady Blackcats.
Rushing allowed just three balls hit out of the infield in her near-perfect performance in the circle.
Top-seeded Goreville (28-4) will meet either Cobden or Crab Orchard in Saturday's 11:00 a.m. championship of the IHSA Class 1A Elverado Softball Regional in Vergennes.
The Lady Falcons (13-13) finished the season with an even record despite not having a single senior on their roster. Five of their starting nine players at the end of the year were either freshmen or sophomores.
After Tuesday's loss, Wheatley reflected on the success her young team saw in the 2012 season.
"Daniel, my assistant, asked me after the game, 'Coach, what if I'd said at the beginning of the season we would start off 7-0?' I said 'no way," Wheatley said.
"He said 'what if I said we'd finish 13-13?' I said 'never would have thought it.' Then he reminded me, 'what if I said we would only be short-gamed once? And, I was like wow!"
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