SOFTBALL: Mistakes lead to Lady Panthers' exit from Regional
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Six errors on defense and a couple more on the basepaths led to Pinckneyville's exit from the Class 2A Softball Regional on Wednesday as Red Bud advanced with a 6-4 victory on their home field.
The Lady Panthers trailed the entire game after the top of the first and stranded nine runners in scoring position in the semifinal matchup, having three others tagged out beyond second base.
"We made six errors on the day, when you make six errors you don't really give yourself a chance to win, but we had a chance," said PCHS head softball coach Mike Cheek. "We made some baserunning mistakes, made some other fielding mistakes that weren't errors but were still mistakes. When you make that many mistakes in a Regional game, you're going to get beat."
The miscues started early - the Lady Musketeers plated their first of four unearned runs on a wild throw in the first inning, and their second an inning later when Andrea Hartmann came in on an RBI by Becca Vogt. Hartmann was on base after a grounder was mishandled by the defense.
An error also started Red Bud's rally in the top of the fourth giving Dany Gargac an RBI opportunity that she took advantage of with a triple to left field. Vogt followed with a single to make it 4-0.
Melia Bathon and Shersty Stanton each had RBI in a three-run third for Pinckneyville as the Lady Panthers chipped into the deficit. Jordyn Wieland got things started with a one-out double, one of her four hits on the afternoon.
Red Bud tacked on a run in the sixth on a pair of hits, then picked up another insurance tally in the seventh after two more errors by the Lady Panthers.
Stanton and Taylor Howard had singles in the bottom of the seventh, but Pinckneyville could only bring one run across.
Wieland was 4-for-4 with a double and a run scored to highlight the Lady Panthers' thirteen-hit effort on offense. Stanton (2-4, R, RBI) and Dani Schoenbacher (2-4, R) each had two hits. Bathon (1-4, RBI), Howard (1-4), Taylor Cheek (1-3), Kala Emling (1-4) and Alyssa Hirsch (1-4) also had hits for Pinckneyville.
Though disappointed with the loss, coach Cheek admitted the girls had accomplished a lot for a team with seventeen freshmen and sophomores on its roster.
"If you look back at the season, we're 19-13 at the end with only two seniors, two juniors and not much experience between any of them, we would have taken this," M. Cheek said. "Although, the way it happened at the end, you're still thinking 'we could have won this game."
"I think our whole conference was young this year, so everyone's going to be improved. We may be better (next year), but we have to get a lot better."
The Lady Musketeers move on to Saturday's Regional championship at 11:00 a.m. in Red Bud.
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