James B. Ritter | For The Telegraph
James B. Ritter | For The Telegraph
GODFREY — Area batters should consider themselves warned – Alton pitcher Brittany Roady is hitting her stride.
And they thought she already had.
Roady, who was already off to a 12-3 start, struck out 12 and hurled a one-hit 9-0 shutout at Civic Memorial Friday at Alton High School. CM leadoff batter Katelynn Turbyfill led off the game with a single, but was erased in a double play. The only other base runners for the Eagles came via and error and a hit batter.
“(Roady) is hitting her stride,” Alton coach Dan Carter said. “The ball was moving real nice for her today.
“The first part of the high school softball season is cold and windy and rainy, but today was a perfect day for softball.
“I guess you could say spring training’s over for her.”
With a sunny sky and temperatures in the 70-degree range, Roady indeed was in control. And thanks to a six-run outburst by the Redbirds in the fifth inning, any late-game drama was avoided.
“I felt good,” Roady said. “After I get the first three innings out of the way, I’m good.”
She wasn’t too shabby the first three innings, either. She struck out five the first three innings, including striking out the side in the second inning.
“My fastball was working,” Roady said, “and my screwball was coming on, too.”
The nonconference victory lifted Alton to 14-3 on the season and was the Redbirds’ sixth in their last eight games. They stopped a two-game skid with a 15-0 win at East St. Louis on Tuesday.
The loss was CM’s fourth in a row. The season has been a roller-coaster ride for the 7-7 Eagles, who also have had a pair of three-game win streaks. CM committed four errors in Friday’s game.
“(Roady) definitely pitched a great game. No doubt about that,” CM coach Mike Eddy said, “but we’re committing errors out here and Alton’s over there drooling.”
CM freshman pitcher Kaitlynn Wrenn took the loss. She went all six innings, gave up 10 hits, walked one and struck out two.
“She’s a young pitcher, who relies on our defense,” Eddy said. “And by the time the fifth inning rolled around, (Alton) was seeing her for the third time and made adjustments.”
Carter agreed.
“We didn’t know that much about (Wrenn),” Carter said. “It took a couple at-bats.”
While the six-run fifth inning may have been the death knell, the Redbirds actually got all the runs they needed in the second inning.
Miranda Hudson singled to left leading off the second, then stole second. After Rachel McCoy walked, Sydney Hartmann drove in both runners with a single up the middle, making it 2-0.
In the third, the Redbirds tacked on a third run on a leadoff home run to centerfield by Savannah Fisher.
Fisher, a junior shortstop, was 2 for 3, was on base three times and scored twice.
Alton sent 11 batters to the plate in the fifth. The first five batters singled and eventually scored, including a double steal on which Fisher stole home. In all, Katelynn Presley, Tami Wong, Fisher, Tomi Dublo, Hudson and Hartmann scored in the inning, with Fisher, Hartmann and Bronte Fencel getting RBI singles.
Flirting with a 10-run short game, the Redbirds came up a run shy when Wrenn struck out Taylor Herrin, then got Presley and Wong to pop out ending the inning.
In the sixth, Alton again came close to ending the game early. Fisher reached base on an error, stole second and advanced to third on a ground out. But Fisher, attempting to score on a bunt by Dublo,was tagged out by CM catcher Cassie Reed.
The Redbirds will resume play Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. with a home game against Belleville East. Then comes a game Wednesday against Metro East Lutheran and a Southwestern Conference game at O’Fallon Thursday before finishing the week with a home date with Brussels. CM will next see action Monday at home against Triad in a Mississippi Valley Conference matchup.
Following Friday’s win and with the Alton High prom set for Saturday, Carter said the team is getting the weekend off.
“Then, we get back to work,” Carter said, “and get ready for an important week next week.”
