BETHALTO — The Alton Redbirds flexed their muscles on Friday at the Bethalto Sports Complex, whacking 3 home runs in a 10-2 victory.
The Birds improved to 16-5 with the win, stretching their winning streak to 7 straight. The Civic Memorial Eagles fell to 7-9 with the loss and have dropped 6 of their last 7.
Tomi Dublo, Ashlyn Betz and Sydney Hartman all powered up for the Redbirds with long balls, all going to center field. CM’s Susan Buchanan joined the fun on the other side with a solo shot to center in the 6th during the losing effort.
Abby Syoc earned the win in the circle for Alton, tossing 5.0 innings, fanning 3, walking 2, hitting a batter and allowing 1 hit and 1 run. Savannah Fisher tossed the final 2 innings, giving up 1 hit on Buchanan’s home run.
Ryan Allison took the loss for the Eagles, going 5.0 innings, striking out 1, walking 2 and surrendering 8 runs, 7 earned, on 9 hits. Gracie Braun threw 2 innings of relief, allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, on 5 hits while fanning 1 hitter.
The Redbirds started quickly with Fisher stroking a leadoff triple into the right field corner in the top of the first. Tami Wong hit a sacrifice fly to score her and give Alton a 1-0 lead.
Syoc helped herself out with a 2-run double in the third to push the Redbird lead to 3-0. Alton then powered up with Dublo smacking a 3-run bomb in the fourth and Betz following it up with a solo homer in back-to-back fashion. That left it 7-0 in favor of the Birds through 4 innings.
The freshman Syoc was cruising through 4 against CM, facing the minimum and not allowing a hit. She walked Kate Griffith to lead off the fourth, but got a fielder’s choice and induced a double play to keep the Redbirds unscathed.
Rebecca Harkey coaxed a leadoff walk in the fifth and was later drove in on a grounder off the bat of Sierra Nolte. Braun picked up the Eagles’ first hit of the game in the fifth also. CM sported a young squad with 6 freshmen starting on Friday.
Buchanan cut the deficit to 7-2 with her homer off of Fisher in the sixth, but AHS responded with another dinger of its own when Hartman pounded a leadoff one out of the No. 9 hole, which chased Allison from the game and grew the lead to 8-2.
Hartman added a 2-run double in the seventh to tack on Alton’s final 2 runs.
Overall the Redbirds banged out 14 hits to score their 10 runs, while CM had 2 runs on 2 hits. Alton committed 2 errors, while the Eagles had 1.
Hartman was 3-for-3 with a double, a homer and 3 RBIs, Dublo was 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBIs and Betz was 3-for-4 with the homer and a RBI to pace the Redbird offense.
CM returns to Mississippi Valley Conference action at 4:15 p.m. Monday at Triad, while AHS plays host to Belleville East at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in Southwestern Conference play.
