The Mattoon softball team punched its ticket to the Regional championship game with a 6-1 victory over Lincoln.
The Lady Wave jumped ahead in the first inning. With two outs, Kyliegh Basham singled up the middle. Shelby Youngblood followed that with a double off the top of the right-center field fence. That drive scored Basham from first and the Lady Wave led 1-0 after an inning.
Mattoon extended its lead in the third. Avery Risinger led off with an infield single after a lengthy at bat. She scored on Avery Jackson’s RBI-triple. Ivy Nichols drove in Jackson with a bunt. The lead was 3-0 after three.
Avery Risinger had two hits and scored a pair of runs.
Lincoln got a run back in the fourth. Kalleigh Rogers drew a walk to start the inning. After an error and another walk, the Railers threatened to answer against the tournament’s top seed. After a pop out to first, Breanna Waller put Lincoln on the board with an RBI-single. However, Lesley Swick was able to limit the damage by getting back-to-back strikeouts to preserve a 3-1 Mattoon lead.
The Lady Wave answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Bella Coffey singled to start the inning and advanced all the way to third on a pair of wild pitches. Kelsey Farmer’s ground ball to third produced a run batted in to make it 4-1 Mattoon. Risinger followed with her second hit of the game, a double to left-center. She scored on Jackson’s double and the lead grew to 5-1 after four. Jackson finished 3-4 with a triple, double, single, and two runs batted in.
The final run scored in the fifth inning on Shelby Youngblood’s third home run of the season. The senior drove one over the left-center field barrier to make it a 6-1 Mattoon lead.
Shelby Youngblood’s solo home run capped a 6-1 Mattoon win.
Swick went the distance for Mattoon in the circle. She allowed one run on two hits with four walks and ten strikeouts. It was her 13th pitching win of the year.
The Lady Wave (22-7) move into Saturday’s Regional championship game at 11am in Charleston.
