Trico one-hits Chester

Posted April 28, 2016 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

CAMPBELL HILL -- Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville recruit Jade Kranawetter held Chester to just one hit, and Emily Bauersachs and Danielle Eilers hit home runs as Trico defeated Chester, 11-1, in six innings on Thursday.

The Pioneers (19-2) improved to 7-0 in the Black Diamond Conference's West Division, while Chester (15-2) fell to 3-1 in the BDC west.

"Trico is a good team that hits the ball," said Chester coach Tracy Colvis. "Unfortunately, (Thursday) we did not hit.

"It is hard to win a game when you make five errors and only get one hit."

After a scoreless first inning, Trico scored three runs in each of the second and third to build a 6-0 advantage.

Bauersachs led off the second with a home run to left field and Chester starter Logan Colvis hit Bailey Witthoft with a pitch and Witthoft came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Lexi Smith that made it 2-0.

Jaelin King later reached base on a dropped third strike and scored the Pioneers' third run of the inning when a throw by Chester catcher Claire Junger - who was attempting to catch King stealing third - went wild.

Witthoft added two more runs in the third on a double and Katie Gale followed with a RBI single for a six-run Pioneers advantage.

Chester got its lone hit in the top of the fourth when Miah Mitchell hit a leadoff home run, but Trico got the run back in the bottom of the inning.

The Pioneers added another run in the bottom of the fifth and tacked on three more in the sixth to end the game early.

"It was not the normal performance from my girls and hopefully, the next time we play Trico we give them a much better ballgame," Colvis said. "Trico is a good team, I will give them that, but we are much better than we played."

Colvis took the loss for Chester, allowing all 11 runs (five earned) on nine hits with four walks and two strikeouts.

Kranawetter did not issue a walk and finished with seven strikeouts in the victory. Bauersachs and Eilers each went 2-for-3 for Trico, while Gale hit two doubles.

"I think our girls knew they had to get a win to get a share of the conference," said Trico coach Andrew Franklin on Friday. "They had a chance to grab at least a share of it last night and now they are at least back-to-back co-champions, if not back-to-back champions and that would be the first in school history."

Franklin also spoke on his team's aggressive baserunning, which aided the Pioneers in their win over Chester.

"That's something we work on on a daily basis," Franklin said. "We do that every practice whether we're outside or inside.

"We work on all the different aspects of baserunning and rotate that throughout the week. We want to be on the aggressive side instead of the passive side."

Up next for both teams is the Steeleville Invitational Tournament, which begins tomorrow, weather-permitting. Chester and Trico will play in a rematch at 10:30 a.m., with Steeleville playing Sparta at 9 a.m.

Other games are Sparta vs. Chester (noon), Trico vs. Steeleville (1:30 p.m.), Sparta vs. Trico (3 p.m.) and Chester vs. Steeleville (4:30 p.m.)

On the baseball side, Steeleville will play Sparta at 9 a.m., with Chester facing Trico at 11 a.m. The two winners will play at 3 p.m. for the championship, while the losers will play at 1:30 p.m. in the third-place game.

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