Photo by Caleb Motsinger
Southwestern senior pitcher Hannah Wilfong during Tuesday's win over Marquette Catholic.
Prep Softball
Southwestern’s Piasa Birds made it two in a row Tuesday, erupting for a 13-6 win over Marquette Catholic at Moore Park.
The winners built a 6-1 lead by the third inning and never looked back. Katie Wooldridge, bound for Heartland Community College in Bloomington, led the way. The senior went 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs.
Teammate Kelsey Rhoades also homered and doubled, while Hannah Wilfong and Rachel Baldwin chipped in with three hits apiece. Baldwin smacked two triples and a double. Wilfong, headed to Illinois Central College in East Peoria, was 3-for-4.
Rachel Baldwin added two hits to back winning pitcher Hannah Inman. She worked 4.1 innings and allowed four runs. Taylor Nixon pitched the final 2.2 innings.
Now 2-3, Southwestern was coming off a 17-5 win over Metro East Lutheran of Edwardsville the past weekend. The Piasa Birds welcome Rock Falls on Thursday and open South Central Conference competition Friday against Hillsboro.
The 2-2 Explorers have lost two in succession. They fell 15-7 Saturday at Dupo. Marquette is slated to play today at Columbia.
Belleville East 8, Alton 3 – The 3-3 Redbirds lost their Southwestern Conference opener in Belleville. Alton will return home Thursday for a date against Edwardsville.
Breese Central 7, EA-WR 1 – Both teams had eight hits, but the Cougars made the most of theirs and took advantage of three errors by the Oilers. EA-WR led 1-0 before Breese Central scored three times in the third inning and added two more runs in the fourth.
Haley Shewmake and Emme Flanigan each had two hits for EA-WR. Losing pitcher Victoria Beachum struck out eight.
The Oilers then lost to Columbia, 11-0, in five innings as EA-WR went hitless. Winning pitcher Brianna Weilbacher pitched the first four innings.
Prep Baseball
Auburn 4, Southwestern 1 – The winners made four runs on three hits to run their record to 6-0 and beat 2-3 Southwestern. The Piasa Birds also had three hits. Spencer Heineman absorbed the loss. Southwestern is scheduled to resume action Wednesday at North Greene.