SOFTBALL: Ingram, Hornettes blank Lady Panthers 3-0

Maci Ingram tossed a two-hit shutout and unbeaten Nashville handed the Lady Panthers their second loss to a state-ranked opponent in as many days, as the Hornettes won 3-0 at Greg Hale Field in Pinckneyville.

Ingram struck out seven and walked two a day after shutting out Du Quoin with fourteen strikeouts.

"She's going to throw you away," PCHS head coach Alan Engelhardt said. "She doesn't throw hard enough to throw in. That gave us some trouble today. Her ball moves well, but we didn't stay on some of those pitches away, and that's what you've got to do against her. You've got to focus on locking on, staying on pitches away, hitting the ball the opposite way."

Nashville went up 1-0 in the top of the second after hits by Daley Buchanan and Paige Kasten, then added another run an inning later when Buchanan brought in Mackenzie McFeron, who was 3-for-3 at the plate, with a sacrifice fly.

Pinckneyville didn't have a hit until the bottom of the fourth when Maddie Jones led off with a single, but Ingram got the next three batters in order to keep the Lady Panthers off the scoreboard.

PCHS had two runners on in the fifth when Kearsten Opp walked and Andrea Morgan bunted for a single, but Ingram fanned Mayci Doerflein and got Kylee Kling to fly out to left field on her way to retiring the final eight Pinckneyville hitters of the game.

"We've got to get better at playing small ball," Englehardt said, "especially against better pitchers like (Ingram). We've got a lot of kids who hit in the middle of the order when they were younger and they never had to bunt. We've got to be able to get some bunts down, that's for sure."

"I think our two-strike at-bats are pretty good. We've done a nice job spoiling and battling with two strikes, but what we've got to understand is that with less than two, the better pitcher you face the more aggressive you've got to be. I think we've been taking a bunch of pitches that might be the best pitch we're going to see in an at-bat. It's a learning process."

Mariah Clark did the pitching for Pinckneyville, allowing ten hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

PCHS will host Sparta on Thursday.