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SOFTBALL: Columbia hands PCHS their first loss

Posted April 04, 2011 11:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[After falling behind 9-2 and needing a two-out, two-run walk-off home run from Mo Ramsey to make it out of round one on Friday, digging an early hole finally caught up with top-ranked Pinckneyville on Saturday.

The Lady Panthers suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of No. 14 Columbia in the championship game of the 2011 Panther Invitational Softball Tourmament at the Perry County Fairgrounds, falling 10-3 to the Lady Eagles, now 9-0.

"I thought our kids battled, didn't give up, and that was important to me," said PCHS head coach Mike Cheek. "I was afraid when were down 6-0 we may duck our heads, tuck our tails, and just take our whooping and go home at the end. I was very pleased with the fact that Sara stayed on the mound and really kept us in it to give us a chance. We did a lot of things right in this loss, if we don't spot them six runs, who knows."

After Columbia starting pitcher Kaitlin Grohman put up a zero for PCHS in the top of the first, the Lady Eagles sent ten batters to the plate in the bottom of the inning and took advantage of a key error in the outfield to score six times off of Lady Panthers' starter Sara Malanowski.

"Sometimes we aren't quite ready to play at the beginning of ball games, and we've done this in the past and been good enough to come back and beat those teams," said Cheek. "Tonight we played a very good ball club, we spotted them six runs and we just couldn't come back out of the hole."

Savannah Wittenbrink drove in a pair with her one-out single, then Alexis Royer capped off the rally with a two-run homer over the left field fence at Greg Hale Field.

Wittenbrink and Royer did more damage in the third as both doubled to lead off the inning and would later score for an 8-0 Columbia lead.

"I'm very pleased with the way we played all weekend," said Columbia head coach Rhonda Major. "I told the girls coming into this week, out of the ten teams in this tournament, seven of them were ranked in the top twenty in the state."

"We'd been playing good ball, hitting the ball well so far this season. The level of competition here was defeinitely what we needed to reemphasize to our kids what we have going."

The Lady Panthers finally got to Grohman in the bottom of the fourth, but ran into some tough luck that kept a three-run rally from potentially turning into something more.

Malanowski led off the inning with a single and Dani Jenkel moved her to second with a sacrifice. Melia Bathon then drove in Malanowski with a double, and Ramsey followed with her second triple of the tournament for another RBI. Maddy Keith grounded to second for an RBI and ended up safe on an error, and then Emily Chapman walked to set up first and second with one out for Taylor Cicardi.

Cicardi lined a single to left, where Royer recovered the ball and gunned out Keith trying to score. Catcher Kassi Farmer then fired to third, catching Chapman in a rundown and ending the inning with a double play.

Pinckneyville would put runners on base in each of the last three innings, but failed to deliver a clutch hit in the late innings as they had against Vienna the day before.

Grohman struck out the final three hitters of the game and eleven in total in picking up the victory for the Lady Eagles as the Lady Panthers stranded eleven base runners in the loss for Malanowski (6-1).

"(Grohman) pitched well, they played good defense, and they hit the ball," Cheek said. "That is a very good team. I told our kids, I'm planning on seeing them again in the Sectional or the Super-Sectional, wherever that's going to happen. I'd like to play them again."

The Eagles claim the championship in the Panther Invitational after going home with third place in 2010. Pinckneyville settles for second, ending a two-year-plus winning streak at their annual tournament.

Taylor Cheek was the only Pinckneyville player with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Ramsey was walked three of the four times she came to the plate against Columbia, finishing 1-for-1 with a run and an RBI on her triple. Keith (1-2, RBI, 2 BB), Cicardi (1-4), Malanowski (1-3, R, BB) and Bathon (1-2, R, RBI, 2B) also collected hits.

Wittenbrink (2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B), Royer (2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR), Grohman (2-3, R, RBI) and Jordyn Amos (2-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, HR) each had two hits for Columbia.

For the tournament, PCHS (12-1) was led by Chapman's 8 RBI's on 6-of-15 hitting with 3 runs and a pair of homers. Ramsey was 6-for-12 with 8 runs, 4 driven in, a pair of triples and a home run. Keith (5-12, 7 R, 5 RBI, 2B), Cicardi (6-14, 3 R, 2 RBI, HR) and Malanowski (5-12, 2 R, 6 RBI, HR) also had big weekends at the plate.

In a confusing moment, both for fans and those involved in the game, bench warnings were issued to both teams in the span of one full inning when it was determined that both coaches had listed an incorrect number on their scorecard.

In the bottom of the first, Major pointed out to the home plate umpire that Chapman's jersey number had been listed incorrectly by Pinckneyville.

A new IHSA rule states that an incorrect notation on the scorecard (such as a wrong jersey number, wrong name, wrong position number, etc.) results in a bench warning. A second violation would result in the head coach being confined to the bench for the remainder of the game.

Cheek was initially told he was confined to the bench following the first violation, but after discussion the call was changed to a warning. Ironically, in the top of the second inning, Cheek pointed out that the same mistake had been made by Major, and the Columbia bench also received a warning. No further violations occurred in the game.

In other action at the Invitational, seventh-ranked in Class 2A Carterville (9-2) knocked off the No. 1 team in Class 1A, Cobden 2-1 to claim the Consolation championship.

In the third place game, Altamont went home with the victory over Johnston City 5-2.

<u>Lady Panthers steamroll Fairfield, Johnston City on Saturday</u>

In one of the 10:00 a.m. contests on Saturday morning, Jenna Montgomery got Fairfield's only two hits off of Malanowski as Pinckneyville put away Fairfield 8-1 to advance into the Panther Invitational semifinals.

Eight Lady Panthers registered hits, but it was Champman leading the way with a pair of home runs and a total of four RBIs. Cicardi and Shersty Stanton also homered for Pinckneyville in the game, which ended on Cicardi's blast in the sixth due to the seven-run rule in effect for early-round contests.

Roughly three and a half hours later, Chapman (5-0) took the hill to face the No. 20 team in Class 2A, Johnston City, holding the Lady Indians to just three runs (two earned) and striking out seven for her fifth win of the season in a 13-3 five-inning rout.

The Panthers came to hit against Johnston City starter Dani Roach, pounding out five hits in a six-run second inning that set the tone for the rest of the game.

Cicardi (BB, 2 R, RBI) was a perfect 3-for-3 against the Lady Indians, Keith (2-4, 2B, 3 R, 3 RBI), Chapman (2-4, R, 2 RBI), Cheek (2-4, 2 R, RBI), Stanton (2-3, BB, 2B, R, RBI) and Malanowski (2-4, HR, R, 5 RBI) each had two hits.

<u>Ramsey's walk-off keeps PCHS in winner's bracket</u>

On Friday afternoon, Pinckneyville's tournament hopes nearly went up in smoke in round one against Vienna, as the Lady Eagles jumped out to a 9-2 start off of Chapman and PCHS. However, much as they had earlier in the season, the Lady Panthers had the answers.

Pinckneyville chipped away before tying the game in the bottom of the sixth, only to allow Vienna to get one back in the top of the seventh to regain a 10-9 advantage. The first two Panthers were retired in the bottom half of the frame, then Jenkel walked to bring Ramsey to the plate.

With the count at one ball and two strikes, Ramsey got into one and sent the home crowd and dugout into a frenzy, ending the game in walk-off fashion with a two-run bomb to keep Pinckneyville's hopes of winning the Invitational alive heading into Saturday.

Ramsey was 3-for-5 in the game, needing just a double to complete the cycle and driving in three runs while scoring three more. Malanowski relieved Chapman in the sixth to pick up the victory.

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