The Sacred Heart-Griffin Cyclones ended the Mattoon High School softball season in Friday’s Sectional championship game by a score of 8-2.
SHG grabbed a second-inning lead. Ashton Dyche led off with a double. Whitney David followed that with a two-run homer down the left field line. The lead grew to 4-0 in the third. Bree Derhake singled with one out and stole second base. After a ground out by Renee Abernathy, Dyche sent a line drive over the right-center field wall for a two-run homer.
The Cyclones broke the game open in the fifth. Katie McLean singled to start the inning. Derhake followed that with another base hit. With one out, Dyche collected her third hit of the game, a two-run single. David matched that with her third hit, a two-bagger. With runners at second and third, Katie Weller delivered a two-run double down the left field line. Sacred Heart-Griffin’s lead was 8-0 after five innings.
The Lady Wave got on the board in the sixth. With one out, Shelby Youngblood singled and went to second on an error. Bella Coffey brought her home with an RBI-double into the left-center field gap. The Lady Wave threatened to get closer later in the inning. The bases were loaded with two outs for Avery Risinger. The left-handed hitter sliced a line drive down the left field line, but Kenzie Trees made a sliding grab to end the inning. The scored held at 8-1 after six.
Mattoon (24-8) plated another run in the seventh inning. Avery Jackson reached on an error. Kyliegh Basham’s single put runners at first and third. Youngblood’s sacrifice fly made it 8-2. But the Lady Wave couldn’t get any closer and SHG advanced to the Super-Sectional round (elite 8) on Monday.
The Cyclones finished the game with 8 runs on 11 hits. They committed three errors and stranded three runners on base. Mattoon finished with two runs on eight hits. The Lady Wave committed one error and stranded nine.
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