COLLINSVILLE — It wasn’t the way Brittany Roady wanted to celebrate her 18th birthday on Saturday in Collinsville.
The Alton senior pitcher was hoping to help her team win its first regional championship in 10 years. But the O’Fallon Panthers had other ideas.
The Panthers beat the Redbirds 3-2 in the Class 4A Collinsville Regional title game at the Collinsville Sports Complex. O’Fallon will return to Collinsville at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to play the Edwardsville Tigers in a Class 4A Normal Sectional semifinal game. The Tigers beat Belleville East 7-3 in the Class 4A Edwardsville Regional championship game on Saturday.
“I was hoping to come out and win a regional championship on my birthday, but we still played a good game,” Roady said. “I’m happy with them today.”
O’Fallon improved to 20-7 and captured its first regional championship since 2012. It’s the first regional title for O’Fallon seniors Addison Barnouski, Allison Underwood and Cassie Brown.
“It means the world to me because I’ve been waiting four years for this,” Underwood said.
Alton senior Katelyn Presley also played her last high school softball game on Saturday.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, she flied out to O’Fallon junior center fielder Courtney Keller for the last out of the game.
“That was awesome,” Underwood said. “For an underclassman, it really boosted her confidence. That was an awesome catch and it saved our game. It could have been a different ball game.”
Barnouski’s three-run homer with one out in the top of the first was the difference.
After Underwood and Keller singled, Barnouski smacked a pitch from Roady and hit her team-leading fifth home run over the left center field fence to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead.
“The one pitch that she put over the fence was inside and up and she knew what to do with that,” Roady said. “She definitely got the better of that.”
Alton came back with two runs in the bottom of the first. Savannah Fisher drove home freshman Tami Wong with a one-out double. One out later, Fisher scored on a single by Miranda Hudson.
The Redbirds stranded three runners in scoring position over the next six innings.
“We had so many opportunities, but that’s OK,” Roady said. “I would like to get some runs across, but the two we got across were key moments. We had some other good hits that we couldn’t get runners across.”
Alton finished its season at 25-8, its fourth straight winning season.
“Twenty five wins is great, but I’m proud of the fact that we lost less than 10,” Alton coach Dan Carter said. “If you go out there and play the kind of schedule we play and don’t lose games, it’s more important than winning games. We don’t beat ourselves and we didn’t beat ourselves today. They did a nice job out there and O’Fallon earned a regional championship and we didn’t.”
Roady will play softball at Lincoln Land College next year. She will continue a softball career that started when she was 5.
“I like it because of how quickly it can change,” Roady said. “Nothing is settled. To go up there and be a pitcher, you can change the game in a matter of seconds and I just like how quick and upbeat everything is.”
Roady has been valuable to the Redbirds since she joined the program when she was a freshman. She went 49-28 during her high school career.
“I’m proud of what I’ve done these four years,” Roady said.
Roady finished with a career-best 22 victories this season, surpassing last year’s total of 16. She never had a losing season in the circle.
“She’s gotten some pitching time for us little by little all four years,” Carter said. “In her sophomore year, she got thrown into the mix when our starting pitcher got hurt. Little by little, she just kept working a little bit more. The hard work for her paid off and it’s all coming together this year for her.”
Roady gave up three runs on four hits, struck out two and walked one in seven innings of work on Saturday.
“She did a great job out there today,” Carter said. “You can’t complain about her effort not only today, but all season and all career. She had a great career for us. We will miss her.”
The difference between winning and losing. That's what softball games sometimes come down to.
In this case, that key play came in the bottom of the fourth, with O'Fallon holding a 3-2 lead on Alton in the IHSA Class 4A Collinsville Regional final at Collinsville Sports Complex.
Rachel McCoy had singled with two out and was heading to third when Bronte Fencel stroked a hard-hit ball heading into the gap in left-center. McCoy was charging hard for third when the ball was cut off by Panther center fielder Courtney Keller, who turned a fired a strike to third baseman Abbey Johnson.
McCoy didn't have a chance.
The strike cut the heart out of the Redbird chances to take the lead and it proved to be huge as the Panthers, on the strength of a first-inning three-run homer from winning pitcher Addison Barnouski, eliminated the Redbirds 3-2 and moved into the Class 4A Normal Community Sectional, where OTHS will face Edwardsville, 7-3 come-from-behind winners over Belleville East in the Edwardsville Regional final, at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Collinsville Sports Complex; the winner advances to the June 4 championship game with a trip to the Normal Supersectional at Illinois State University on the line.
“They did a nice job,” said Redbird coach Dan Carter. “We were going two bases all the way on that; you obviously don't want to make a third out at third, but we're going two on two – with two outs, we're going after two bases. Our girl (McCoy) didn't hesitate, she went hard all the way.
“Unfortunately for us, they made a great play; she picked it up and made a great strike. We had our fastest runner running out there; we put the ball right where it needed to be. We put a little pressure on them and they responded.”
“She's (Keller) a very, very talented outfielder,” said Panther coach Kelly Paproth, “and we've been working hard with her the last two years and she works hard; she worked hard on that play and it paid off well.”
Keller and Allison Underwood had one-out singles in the top of the first to bring up Barnouski, who launched a Brittany Roady offering over the fence in left-center to put the Panthers up 3-0. The Redbirds countered in their half of the first Tami Wong got a one-out single and stole second; Savannah Fisher singled in Wong to cut the lead to 3-1 and after Tomi Dublo struck out, Miranda Hudson got ahold of a Barnouski offering and singled in Fisher to cut the lead to 3-2.
Barnouski went on to strike out five Redbirds in succession while Roady kept the Panther at bay. Alton's best chance to tie the game came in that fateful fourth inning, but in the bottom of the sixth, Dublo opened with a walk and went to second on a Hudson single, putting runners on with no one out. Barnouski got Sydney Hartman to pop back to the circle, but Barnouski saw Hudson had drifted too far off the bag and fired to first to double off Hudson, cutting the heart out of a potential Redbird rally. Barnouski then got McCoy to ground to third to end the inning before retiring the side in order in the seventh to win the game.
The Panthers moved into the sectional at 20-7, while the Redbirds were eliminated at 25-8.
Alton pitcher Brittany Roady looks to deliver a pitch at East Alton-Wood River High early in the season. Tuesday, Roady helped lead the Redbirds past the Collinsville Kahoks to open the Class 4A Collinsville Regional.
COLLINSVILLE – Take it from Alton High shortstop Savannah Fisher. The softball Redbirds are rolling.
“For sure, we are clicking together as a team,” Fisher said Tuesday following the Redbirds’ 8-1 semifinal win over the host Kahoks in the Class 4A Collinsville Regional.
Alton’s victory, its seventh in succession, propelled the 25-7 Redbirds into the regional championship game at noon Friday. They’ll face Southwestern Conference rival O’Fallon, which ousted Belleville West, 2-0 in Tuesday’s second semifinal.
“We really wanted to win this game and keep things going,” said Fisher, igniting the Redbirds’ attack. She was 2-for-4 with a triple, reached base 3 times and drove in 3 runs.
Teammate Miranda Hudson went 2-for-4 with a two-run single in a three-run first inning as the Redbirds beat the Kahoks for the second time in four days and the third time this season. Collinsville closed with a 10-22 record. The Redbirds outscored the Kahoks 25-4 in those three meetings.
“We put the ball in play and good things happened for us,” AHS coach Dan Carter said. “I think the way we played this game is the best we have looked all season.”
The Redbirds made the most of nine hits and took advantage of six errors.
“We didn’t play very well,” Collinsville coach Dan Toberman said. “They (Redbirds) got a lead, it snowballed and that deflated us.”
Senior pitcher Brittany Roady did her best to throttle the Kahoks. She spun a four-hitter in beating them for the third time this season and improving her record to 22-6.
“I knew it was going to be tough today because we just played them Saturday,” Roady said of that 9-2 win. “So I was trying to get first-pitch strikes and make them pop up for outs.”
Toberman said the Kahoks never solved Roady this season.
“We scored four runs against her in the three times she faced us and we struck out 28 times against her,” he said. “She is as good of a pitcher as we have faced all season.”
Carter said, “Brittany is one of the best.”
Roady struck out seven this time and permitted only a third-inning run. The Kahoks trailed 3-1 at that point, but never got any closer. Fisher doubled home a run in the fourth and the Redbirds tacked on three more runs in the fifth. Sydney Hartman’s RBI triple highlighted that inning. The Kahoks helped extend it with three errors.
“We have some momentum going and hope we can continue it,” Roady said of the Birds, who haven’t lost since May 13.
Bronte Fencel pitched in with a run-scoring single. She went 1-for-3 and reached base 2 times. Katelyn Presley was 1-for-3 and on base 3 times. Tami Wong reached base all 4 times in a 1-for-4 outing. Taylor Herrin went 1-for-3.
“We have been preaching to attack and play aggressively,” Carter said of the Redbirds’ offense.
Fisher said, “We are coming together, playing good defense behind Brittany and playing our best ball of the year.
“We are looking to win a regional championship.”
O’Fallon which improved to 19-7 with its shutout of Belleville West, has won 6 of its last 7 games. The Redbirds have divided two games with the Panthers. They won 4-2 on March 29 at AHS and lost 2-1 on April 28 in O’Fallon.
Friday’s regional champion advances to the Normal Community Sectional. The sectional semifinal game between the Collinsville champ and Edwardsville winner is scheduled for Tuesday, May 31, in Collinsville. The sectional final is slated for 11 a.m. Saturday, June 4, in Normal.
Edwardsville tangles with the Belleville East-Granite City winner for the Tigers’ regional championship at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Lancers and Warriors square off at 4:30 Wednesday in Edwardsville.
GODFREY — Savannah Fisher of the Alton Redbirds had an afternoon to remember Friday.
She went 3-for-4 with a single, double and triple as the Redbirds defeated rival East Alton-Wood River, 6-1 in the opening game of the AHS Round-Robin Softball Tournament. Fisher also had two RBIs, swiped a base and pitched the final two innings to preserve the victory. She was a home run away from hitting for a cycle.
“It was a good day hitting for me and probably the best game I’ve had this season,” Fisher said. “This win definitely picked us up and can give us some momentum.”
The left-handed hitting junior shortstop tripled in a first-inning run and then scored on Miranda Hudson’s single to give the 16-5 Redbirds a 2-0 edge. And they never looked back in beating the 13-16 Oilers for the second time this season. Alton’s win came on the heels of a walk-off 6-3 loss at Edwardsville on Thursday.
“My team always bounces back,” said catcher Hudson, who had two hits and a pair of RBIs. She also doubled home a run in the Redbirds’ two-run third. They tacked on a pair of runs in the fourth after the Oilers scored their lone run in the top of inning.
Coach Dan Carter expected that bounce-back mentality after the Redbirds’ tough Southwestern Conference loss in Edwardsville.
“We have been very competitive all season,” he said. “We go out and play hard every night.”
Roady, a senior right-hander, worked five innings to make it Sweet 15. She improved to 15-5 by allowing 6 hits in 5 innings. Roady struck out eight.
“She pitched well and the top of our order did a nice job getting on base,” Carter said. “Savannah is really locked in mentally.”
He noted, “We went with Savannah pitching the last two innings because we are still looking for a No. 2 pitcher. And we have two tournament games Saturday.”
Leadoff hitter Katelyn Presley was 2-for-4 with a double, while second-place hitter Tami Wong went 2-for-4 and knocked in a run. So with Fisher’s three hits, the first three batters in the Redbirds’ lineup combined for 7 of their 11 hits. Sydney Hartman contributed a double and Tomi Dublo collected a RBI.
“That’s not a good matchup for us,” EA-WR coach Dana Emerick said of playing Alton. “They are that much better and it’s a matter of numbers. They have a lot more to choose from than we do.”
The Oilers struck for six hits, with Heather Martin getting two of them. Courtney Beneke’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning played Carly Campbell, who stroked a one-out double. Ashley Knight and losing pitcher Morgan Moxey also doubled. EA-WR, which lost to Alton, 11-0, earlier this season, stranded eight runners this time.
“I thought we came up here, battled and did the best we could,” Emerick said. “It wasn’t from a lack of effort. This isn’t a good matchup for us. I’m not complaining. I’m just trying to be realistic.
“I can’t remember the last time we beat Alton.”
Moxey, a sophomore left-hander who twirled a six-inning no-hitter Thursday against Carrollton, gave up 11 hits against Alton. She fanned nine and walked two.
“I was proud of our pitcher and catcher,” Emerick said, referring to Moxey and Campbell, respectively.
EA-WR, which has won three games this week, is angling for its own bounce-back Saturday. The Oilers play Waterloo (at 10 a.m.) and Trenton Wesclin in the two-day tourney. The Redbirds also face the Warriors (10 a.m.) and the Bulldogs. Wesclin, which was 6-11, was scheduled to play at 10-13 Waterloo on Friday.
“Softball is a funny game because things can go in streaks,” Emerick said.
EDWARDSVILLE — Sarah Hanglsben put the finishing touches on Edwardsville’s 20th softball win of the season Thursday.
The junior outfielder did it in a powerful way.
Her three-run, walk-off home run in the seventh inning gave the Tigers a 6-3 win over Alton in a Southwestern Conference game at the District 7 Sports Complex.
The league-leading Tigers won their eighth in succession and improved to 10-0 in the SWC. Edwardsville, which lifted its overall record to 20-3, has won at least 20 games for the past 12 seasons. The Redbirds dropped to 15-5 and 7-3 in suffering their second setback to the Tigers this season.
“That’s what she does,” Edwardsville coach Lori Blade said. “Sarah has great pop on the ball. It just jumps off her bat.”
It did just that with two-on base and one out in the seventh. Hangsleben’s home run cleared the fence in right center field and gave her a 3-for-4 outing with four RBIs. She also singled home a run in the first inning.
“That’s my top home run of the season,” Hangsleben said of her game-winner. “I was just looking to make good contact because we had runners in scoring position.”
And away it flew. Hangsleben belted for 10th home run of the season, one shy of the school record. Rachel Coonrod clouted 11 in 2009 when she drove in 50 runs and batted .530. Hangsleben is nearly matching those hefty numbers. She has 35 RBIs to go with a .527 average.
“Working out in the off-season really has helped me,” Hangsleben said.
Alton coach Dan Carter faced a tough decision in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Hayli Green doubled for her third hit. Carter elected to walk Southeast Missouri State-bound Rachel Anderson ahead of Hangsleben.
It was sort of a pick-your-poison choice.
“We walked her (Anderson) to set up a possible force out situation,” Carter said.
Blade noted, “That’s a tough choice either way in pitching to one or the other.”
The Redbirds came close to grabbing the lead in the top of the seventh when Katelyn Presley stroked a two-out double and Tami Wong followed with a sinking line drive to left field. But Green, the daughter of new Marquette Catholic girls’ basketball coach Lee Green, made a diving catch to keep things knotted at 3-3.
“She made a game-saving catch,” Blade said of Green.
Carter pointed out, “Green made a tremendous play.”
Presley and Tomi Dublo both had a pair of hits for the Redbirds and losing pitcher Brittany Roady chipped in with a run-scoring single. Alton led 1-0 in the first, then tied it 3-3 in the fourth after the Tigers scored twice in the first and once in the third.
“You can play well and not win, and that’s what happened to us,” Carter said. “I thought Brittany pitched a pretty good game, but Edwardsville did what it needed to do to win the game.
“I’d like to think we are still in the conference race, but we are three games behind the leader and we are done playing them.”
While Hangsleben and Green teamed for 6 of the Tigers’ 10 hits, teammates Jennifer Werner and Anna Burke contributed to the cause. Werner hit a run-scoring single in the third and Burke drove in a first-inning run.
Winning pitcher Jordan Garella raised her record to 16-1 in helping the Tigers win for the 16th time in their last 17 games. She struck out seven and allowed six hits. Roady fanned one, walked two and gave up 10 hits in 6.1 innings.
While the Tigers are scheduled to play a doubleheader Friday at Teutopolis, the Redbirds welcome East Alton-Wood River, Trenton Wesclin and Waterloo in their two-day, round-robin tournament that starts Friday. They face the Oilers at 4:30 p.m. Friday in their tourney opener.
Edwardsville (20-3, 10-0) — Jordan Corby 1-4 2B, Hayli Green 3-4 2B-2, Sarah Hangsleben 3-4 HR RBI-4, Anna Burke 1-3 RBI, Jennifer Werner 1-2 RBI, Taryn Brown 1-3. WP – Jordan Garella IP-7 H-6 R-3 ER-2 BB-0 K-6
- See more at: http://advantagenews.com/sports/softball-tigers-top-redbirds-on-hangsleben%E2%80%99s-walk-off-home-r/#sthash.IIXBU10h.dpuf
Alton’s Brittany Roady delivers a pitch Friday night in the seventh inning of her complete-game victory over Civic Memorial at Alton High.
James B. Ritter | For The Telegraph
CM catcher Cassie Reed makes a tag on Alton’s Savannah Fisher in a play at the plate Friday at AHS.
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.”
Calhoun edges Redbird Softball 2-0 on walkoff HR - The Telegraph - 4/18/2016
Updated on 06/10/2022
PREP SOFTBALL: Calhoun edges Alton 2-0 on Baalman’s walkoff HR in 12th
Calhoun’s Grace Baalman hit a two-run walkoff home run in the 12th inning to lift her team to a 2-0 win over Alton Monday night in Hardin. She is showing being congratulated after a home run in last season’s Class 1A state final.
File Photo by Dennis Mathes, Journal-Courier | For The Telegraph
HARDIN — The Calhoun Warriors flailed away through eight innings without getting a single ball to the outfield grass against Alton hurler Brittany Roady.
With Roady and Grace Baalman locked in a pitchers duel scoreless through 11 innings, Baalman then bypassed the outfield green for the turf beyond the center field fence. Baalman’s two-run walk-off home run with nobody out in the 12th inning gave Calhoun a 2-0 nonconference softball victory over the Redbirds at Calhoun.
The home run was the seventh for Baalman, who hit 19 last season as a sophomore while pitching the Warriors to a Class 1A state championship. Calhoun, the state’s No. 1 ranked team in Class 1A, improves to 19-1. Alton falls to 12-3.
“We always pitch around Grace, we knew she hit a home run off me last year, we knew she was capable of doing it again,” said Roady, who took the loss in last season’s 8-1 defeat to Calhoun. “She’s a powerful girl, a tall girl, you expect those things out of her. But you’ve just to go in there and do the best you can.”
No. 9 hitter Abby Baalman led off the 12th inning by reaching on an error to bring up Grace Baalman, who fouled off the first pitch with Abby Baalman off on a hit-and-run.
“Then I looked for my pitch,” Grace Baalman said of the second offering from Roady. “And, luckily, she threw it high instead of low – that’s where I like it.”
Before Baalman’s towering drive to center, the Warriors had given no hint of getting to Roady. The Alton right-hander had retired the previous 17 Warriors before Abby Baalman’s slow roller back to the circle eluded Roady. The baserunner with nobody out reduced Alton’s options with Grace Baalman and the Kentucky recruit punished the Redbirds.
“We chose to pitch to her,” Alton coach Dan Carter said. “We had the girl on base, but we could have possibly pitched around her. But I wanted to see how our girls react and Brittany pitched a great game, I hate to take the ball out of her hand. … One little mistake and it lost the game. Somebody has to lose and, unfortunately, it was us today.”
Grace Baalman went 3-for-5, but no other Calhoun hitter got a ball out of the infield. Roady struck out 17 and walked no one while allowing five hits.
“She commanded the game,” Calhoun coach Matt Baalman said. “We just couldn’t put the bat on the ball.”
After pitching out of a first inning that began with Warriors on first and second with nobody out, Roady did not allow a runner to reach second base until the 12th.
Meanwhile, the Redbirds were able put the leadoff hitter on base six times against Grace Baalman. But Alton went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and failed to get a bunt down on 10 of 13 attempts.
“Good pitching, it’s tough to put the ball in play,” Carter said. “Oh-for-10 with runners in scoring position, yeah, that’s a stat, obviously, we want to be better at. But it’s the bunting that frustrates me.”
Grace Baalman, who got her 1,000 career strikeout last week, allowed four hits and four walks while striking out 17. The 6-foot-2 junior lowered her ERA to 0.24 with 238 strikeouts and 16 walks in 117 innings.
Alton’s best chance to break through against Baalman came in the third inning when No. 3 hitter Savannah Fisher, after twice failing to get a bunt down, smoked a line drive to the gap in left-center field to lead off the inning. The speedy Fisher never hesitated rounding second base and cruised into third with a triple when the Calhoun relay went to second.
But Baalman, who fanned three successive Redbirds after Alton put its first two runners on base in the second inning, struck out the Nos. 4-5 hitters in the lineup and had two strikes on No. 6 when Fisher broke for home on a delayed steal while Calhoun catcher Madison Lehr threw the ball back to Baalman.
But Baalman calmly tossed the ball back to Lehr, who tagged out Fisher on a close play at the plate. “We gambled,” Carter said. “It didn’t work. I’d do it again – against this pitching and this team.”
“If that would have happened, Grace would have been in big trouble,” Grace’s father Matt Baalman said with a laugh. “Our catcher and pitcher would really have to fall asleep for that to happen. They’re a lot better than that.”
The defeat was the second in a row for the Redbirds, who lost to Jersey 6-5 on Saturday. Alton plays at East St. Louis on Tuesday before playing host to Cahokia on Wednesday. No matter the outcome of those games, the lessons learned in Hardin figure to be the most beneficial of the week.
“We always know coming in to play Calhoun, they’re going to be tough with Grace, and they used to have Maddie,” said Roady, who was a freshman when the Redbirds were one-hit in a 4-1 loss to Grace’s older sister Maddie Baalman in 2013. “We have to be on our ‘A’ game. But taking away from this, we know that we’re a good team and we know that we can do anything. This win was possible. But it’s OK, we’ll learn from it.”
Alton softball coach Dan Carter talks with second baseman Tomi Dublo before an at-bat on March 28 at AHS against Roxana. The Redbirds are off to a fast start in 2016.
Dan Carter and his Alton Redbird softball team have reason to smile so far in 2016.
The Birds have spread their wings, sharpened their talons and feasted on early season competition. They were off to a 10-1 start overall and sported a 4-1 mark in the Southwestern Conference through Wednesday. It’s their best start since beginning 12-1 in 2013. That year Alton was 9-0 to get things percolating. The Redbirds were 8-0 this season before suffering their lone blemish, a 9-2 setback to Edwardsville at home on April 5.
Chemistry seems to be the winning formula — Alton returned everyone from the 2015 squad and added in contributing freshman Tami Wong to boot.
“I’m very pleased,” said Carter, at the helm of the Redbirds since 2000. “We’re off to a good start. I’m very pleased with the conference race. Obviously we would have liked to have gotten Edwardsville and we didn’t play real well that night, but after going back and looking at the stats we didn’t play that bad either. We could have been sharper on defense. We had opportunities and just weren’t able to get the big hit. We stranded 12 runners, so we had runners on base and just weren’t able to get the big hits and score runs.
“I’ve been telling the girls we are good enough to compete with anybody out there. Competing doesn’t mean you’re going to win, but we do have the opportunity to go out and compete night in and night out and the girls believe in what we’re doing and they’re working hard.”
Carter thinks the way the softball program has been constructed as a whole has been key to success. Alton has won 20-plus games in each of the last three seasons.
“We have a program up here at the high school that’s not just the high school program,” Carter said. “It’s a district program. Coach (Katie) Wilson and I both coach at the middle school and our high school girls go down and they help out at the middle school level. The girls throughout the district know each other; sixth grade up to 12th grade they know each other a little bit and it’s nice to have that.”
It’s definitely helped with Wong’s emergence. Through Wednesday, Wong is hitting .487 with 1 home run, 14 RBIs, 4 doubles and owns a .718 slugging percentage, all near the top in offensive categories for the team.
“They all know each other already,” Carter said. “They may be surprised that she’s doing as good as she is, but the chemistry is pretty good. You put 13 high school girls together, there’s going to be good days and bad days, but for the most part they get along together pretty well. They don’t have to be best friends, but when they cross that line they have to be best friends and this group of girls is having fun.”
The offensive prowess of the Birds has been outstanding to kick off the season. They are averaging 8 runs per game thus far, and up and down the lineup the statistics look good.
Through Wednesday, Tomi Dublo (.333, 2 doubles, 3 home runs, 12 RBIs), Savannah Fisher (.359, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 6 RBIs), Bronte Fencel (.250, 1 double, 1 home run, 9 RBIs), Katelyn Presley (.459, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 3 RBIs), Sydney Hartman (.389, 2 doubles, 8 RBIs) and Miranda Hudson (.367, 1 double, 2 home runs, 10 RBIs) have swung solid sticks to stir the torrid start.
It’s been clutch hitting, too. Dublo’s two-run homer in the top of the eighth inning led Alton to a big 4-2 victory at Belleville East on March 31.
“Against Granite City it was 3-0, a comfortable lead and in the bottom of the fourth Bronte Fencel hit a big two-run home run to give us that 5-0 cushion and she’s batting seventh on the team,” Carter said. “She has that ability too, just to drive the ball. Up and down the lineup they all work hard. We’ve got an approach and we’re going up there looking for stuff. We make in-game adjustments and we talk about that a lot, not getting frustrated. In this sport you’re going to fail sometimes. A good hitter is going to fail 6 out of 10 times; you’re still hitting .400 and we’ll take that.”
Of course in softball it all revolves around pitching, and senior Brittany Roady is Alton’s workhorse. She’s 10-1 with a 0.80 ERA and owned 81 strikeouts to just 11 walks in 69.2 innings pitched through Wednesday.
Carter admitted it’s about keeping her fresh for the home stretch and the Birds are working at their depth with Fisher and Hartman.
“If you don’t have a pitcher it’s tough,” Carter said. “Brittany’s one of the best around and she’s pitching real well. I’m hoping it warms up because she’ll pitch even better when it gets warmer. Hopefully we’re not going to have to ride her too hard and that’s going to be my decision. Coming down to the last half of the season we’re going to have to pick and chose when we pitch her. We want her to be healthy for the games on the schedule we need her for down the stretch.
“We’re going to start developing a No. 2 pitcher and Savannah Fisher and Sydney Hartman have been working real hard in bullpen sessions and we’re going to start getting them innings when we get a chance. Right now Brittany’s been our workhorse and she does a great job every day.”
Time well tell, but if the ending matches the beginning, the Redbirds could be in for a memorable 2016 season.
GODFREY — Sarah Hangsleben supplied the power for the Edwardsville softball swat team Tuesday.
The junior outfielder packed a potent punch as the Tigers’ main strike force.
Hangsleben went 4-for-4 with 2 singles, a double and triple and 2 RBIs in leading the Tigers past previously unbeaten Alton, 9-2.
The Redbirds, angling for their best start since 2013 when they won their first nine games, fell to 8-1 overall and 2-1 in the Southwestern Conference. Not only did they lose their first game, they also lost coach Dan Carter, ejected in the top of the third inning.
Edwardsville, the defending conference champ, improved to 5-2 and 2-0. The Tigers are the only undefeated team in the eight-school SWC.
“It was a good win for us and a good team effort for sure,” said Hanglesben, who came close to hitting for a cycle. All she missed was a home run.
She singled in the first inning, doubled home a run in the second and tripled in the fifth. Then Hangsleben provided a RBI single in the sixth.
“I knew I was close to hitting for a cycle,” she said. “It was my best-hitting game of the season. I was looking for good pitches to hit and making contact.”
Tigers’ coach Lori Blade said Hangsleben is capable of igniting a forceful attack.
“If she’s patient, she can hit very well,’ Blade said. “She’s a streaky hitter but she doesn’t get cheated at the plate.”
Neither does teammate Rachel Anderson, bound for Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau. The senior outfielder went 2-for-4 with a double, drove in two runs reached base three times.
“They (Tigers) hit the ball well up and down the lineup,” Alton’s Carter said. “They earned the win. But we didn’t give ourselves much of a chance by falling behind 5-0 by the second inning.
“We started out flat.”
Three AHS errors enabled Edwardsville to score six unearned runs against Redbirds’ pitcher Brittany Roady. Carter got so frustrated with things that plate umpire Glenn Vetter ejected him in the third inning.
Evidently, Vetter didn’t like the body language of AHS catcher Miranda Hudson when she reacted to some of his calls on balls and strikes. Carter questioned him about it and was eventually ejected. Assistant coach Katie Wilson served as the head coach for the rest of the game.
“That’s the first time I have been ejected in more than 1,000 varsity events,” said Carter, who also previously served as the Redbirds’ volleyball coach. “He made the decision that I went too far. It surprised me because there was no bench warning.”
Carter will have to serve a one-game suspension and sit out Alton’s nonconference contest Wednesday at Highland. The Redbirds then welcome Granite City on Thursday in a conference game.
The Redbirds’ level of frustration increased when they stranded 12 runners and left the bases loaded twice. Alton had 10 hits, just two fewer than Edwardsville.
Katelyn Presley led the Birds by going 3-for-3 and also drawing a walk. Savannah Fisher went 2-for-4, batted in a run and reached base 3 times. Tami Wong drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Tomi Dublo contributed a run-scoring single in their two-run fourth.
“I think we are good enough to compete with anybody, but today we didn’t come out ready to compete,” Carter said. “Edwardsville put a lot of pressure on us from the start of the game.
He added, “They are the only unbeaten team in the conference and the defending champs. So until somebody knocks them off, they are the team to beat.”
Winning pitcher Jordan Garella struck out 9 and walked 2 in scattering 10 hits, Both Alton runs were unearned. Each team made three errors.
“She basically shut them out (no earned runs) and that says something about the way she pitched,” Blade said of Garella.
Emma Lewis and Taryn Brown collected two hits apiece for the Tigers and Brown stroked a two-run single in the fifth.
“We put the ball in play and had some key at-bats,” Blade said. “It was a great and complete team win.”
Edwardsville is slated to entertain Belleville West on Thursday in another league test and then go to Triad on Friday in nonconference competition.
SWC
EDWARDSVILLE 9 ALTON 2
Edwardsville 230 003 1 — 9 12 3
Alton 000 020 0 — 2 10 3
Edwardsville (5-2, 2-0) — Hayli Green 1-3 RBI, Rachel Anderson 2-4 RBI, Sarah Hangsleben 4-4 2B 3B RBI-2, Allison Loehr 1-4 RBI, Emma Lewis 2-3 2B, Taryn Brown 2-4 RBI-2. WP – Jordan Garella IP-7 H-10 R-2 ER-2 BB-2 K-9.
Alton (8-1, 2-1) — Katelyn Presley 3-3, Miranda Hudson 1-4, Tami Wong 1-3 RBI, Tomi Dublo 1-3 RBI, Savannah Fisher 2-4, Sydney Hartman 1-4, Bronte Fencel 1-4. LP – Brittany Roady IP-7 H-12 R-9 ER-3 BB-1 K-4.
- See more at: http://advantagenews.com/sports/softball-tigers-snap-redbirds%E2%80%99-unbeaten-streak/#sthash.8gW8hu4X.dpuf
Tigers deliver message, whip Redbirds in Softball - The Telegraph - 4/5/2016
GODFREY — When the Edwardsville softball team huddled up for a matchup of the unbeatens of Southwestern Conference play against Alton, it was a symbolic moment of what the Tigers have been facing since the 2016 season started.
And for those that have the notion that Edwardsville is ready to fall or relinquish its stance as a high barometer of successful softball in the area better think again.
The Tigers laced up their hitting shoes early in this one, plating five runs in the first two innings. They were led by Sarah Hangsleben’s 4-for-4 effort at the plate and using the bend-but-don’t-break pitching of Jordan Garella, who scattered 10 hits in a 9-2 win against the previously unbeaten Redbirds on Tuesday at Alton High School.
With the Tigers (5-2, 2-0) losing 10 seniors from a team that was a super-sectional representative a season ago and three-time defending conference champion, everyone would love nothing more than to slay the giant.
The giant made a clear statement on Tuesday that it isn’t going anywhere; not without a say in the battle.
“They’re tired of everybody saying we’re down, yes; point made,” Edwardsville coach Lori Blade said. “But yes, they are, and you can go to social media and you can go to a lot of things, but hey, keep it up, because it makes my job a little easier.
“That’s why I’m proud of these kids because that’s all they’ve heard for the last three weeks. We take those early two losses and we’re still going to take some losses, but they just need to compete, and if they compete, good things will happen. I’m happy as long as they compete like they did whether we win or lose.”
Edwardsville competed and persevered from start to finish in this one, sending the Redbirds (8-1, 2-1) to their first loss and coach Dan Carter being ejected for the first time in his coaching career in the top of the third.
Carter was tossed by home plate umpire Glenn Vetter after Vetter had apparently become agitated when Redbirds catcher Miranda Hudson had asked on multiple occasions where particular pitches from Brittany Roady were when called balls. Vetter told Carter that he wasn’t happy with Hudson’s “body language” after he ignored her calls and Carter came out to talk to the official about what his catcher was saying so he could remedy the situation. After a few heated exchanges, Carter was ejected.
“When you coach as many games as I have and you haven’t even come close, never even had a bench warning,” said Carter, who will have to sit out Alton’s next game Wednesday at Highland. “I’m not saying I won’t be the first one to voice my opinion, but usually I have a pretty good rapport with the umpires. He did what he thought he needed to do.”
But it was a rough start for Alton, which allowed six unearned runs off three errors, and the Tiger bats punished the mistakes.
Edwardsville scored twice in the first on RBI singles by Rachel Anderson and Allison Loehr. They scored three more times in the second fueled by a fielding error in right field, and consecutive hits by Hayli Green, Anderson and Hangsleben made it 5-0.
The Tigers were jumping on Roady’s pitches early in the count.
“We definitely came in here with an aggressive mentality as a whole, as a team because we were really looking to get on base and get the hits,” said Hangsleben, who had a double, triple and two RBI.
“Good pitchers you have to … but I don’t know if that’s something we said, ‘Hey, you need to jump all over her,’” Blade said. “But they were relaxed, they wanted to be aggressive and I’m just very proud of their effort today.”
Carter added: “They hit the ball well today. They hit the ball up and down the lineup and they earned the win today. I don’t want to take that away from them at all. They’re a good ballclub. I didn’t think we gave ourselves a chance today. I think we could have been a little bit better. We started out flat.”
Anna Burke drove in a run in the fifth, and Taryn Brown’s two-out, two-run single made it 8-0 in the fifth before Alton was able to plate two unearned runs off Garella in the fifth in a sacrifice fly by Tami Wong and RBI single from Tomi Doblo.
Garella (5-0) walked two and struck out nine. She was able to strand 12 Alton baserunners. Roady (8-1) allowed 12 hits, three earned runs, one walk and four strikeouts.
“I am proud that they competed every at-bat today,” Blade said. “It’s a different team that what (we had) a couple weeks ago. Did I expect this outcome? I don’t know, but I did expect our kids to compete and they did.
“We had some key at-bats, we took some extra bases when we needed to, bunts down when we needed to. It was a great complete team win.”
Alton took its first shot at Edwardsville and came up short but won’t back away any time soon.
“I think that we’re good enough to compete with anybody, but you’ve got to play,” Carter said. “You’ve got to come out ready to play and we did not today. … Like I’ve been saying all along, people keep saying they’re down, but they’re at the top of the conference. They’re the only undefeated team in the conference and they are the conference champs. Until somebody knocks them off, they’re the team to beat.”
And the team to beat has one proclamation: keep fueling the fire.
“It doesn’t bother us,” Hangsleben said. “We know what we are capable of doing here and we’re focusing on doing it right. We’re definitely going to make out best effort every game.”
EDWARDSVILLE 9, ALTON 2
Edwardsville 320 031 0 — 9 12 3
Alton 000 020 0 — 2 10 3
Edwardsville (5-2, 2-0) — Green 1-3 RBI, Anderson 2-4 2B RBI-2, Hangsleben 4-4 2B 3B RBI-2, Loehr 1-4 RBI, Lewis 2-3 2B, Brown 2-4 RBI-2. WP-Garella (5-0) IP-7 H-10 R-2 ER-0 BB-2 K-9.
BELLEVILLE• Newly minted as the top team in the STLhighschoolsports.com large-schools rankings, junior Tomi Dublo made sure Alton kept its record unblemished with a 4-2 victory over host Belleville East in eight innings Thursday.
Dublo belted a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the eighth to provide the winning margin for the Redbirds (8-0 overall, 2-0 Southwestern Conference) against East (7-3, 1-1, No. 3 LS), the previous top-ranked team.
Before hitting the home run, her third of the season, Dublo was hitless in the game. She drove in senior Katelyn Presley, who opened the eighth with an infield single.
"I wasn't looking for anything special," Dublo said. "As you can see I was struggling at the beginning. I just came out and had to keep a positive attitude and do what I had to do for my team. I didn't know it was out. I was hoping obviously."
Dublo's heroics made a winner of senior Brittany Roady, who improved to 8-0 and notched her sixth complete game.
Roady struck out seven and set the Lancers down in order four times, including the seventh and eighth innings.
East scored both of its runs in the sixth when junior Jessica Belzer started a rally with a double. Sophomore pitcher Kristina Bettis had the key hit with a one-out single through the infield that scored Belzer and Sierrah Baffa, a courtesy runner for Alexandria Boze, who reached base on a fielder's choice.
East could have taken the lead, but had a runner tagged out at the plate trying to score on a passed ball.
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"We did a nice job to get that runner on the passed ball or that would have been the game," Alton coach Dan Carter said. "We settled down, got the runner on and Tomi did a nice job of driving the ball over the fence."
Alton scored single runs in the fourth and sixth to take a 2-0 lead.
Junior Bronte Fencel singled in junior Savannah Fisher for the Redbirds' initial tally. Freshman Tami Wong, who had reached on a two-base throwing error, scored on a wild pitch for the second run.
After falling behind 2-0, East had its big rally, but other than in the sixth Roady frustrated the Lancers' hitters.
"We've got to square ball up and for whatever reason, right now, we're just not," East coach Natalie Peters said. "From the top to the bottom of our order it just seems like we've got kids all the way up and down the order popping it up. We'll work on it. We'll get back at it because we definitely have good hitters on this team."
Meanwhile for the Redbirds, things couldn't be going better. They beat top-three teams O'Fallon and East this week, including handing O'Fallon its first loss.
"It was a pretty darn good week," Carter said, "I'll take that any time. I told the girls, what I just said was, 'Enjoy the heck out of this one tonight, but come into practice ready to work tomorrow, because we have Edwardsville on Tuesday.' And like I've been saying all year, until someone knocks them off, they're at the top of the heap. They are still Edwardsville and they are still the Southwestern Conference reigning champions."
Alton beats East on Dublo HR in eigth - The Telegraph - 3/31/2016
Updated on 06/10/2022
PREP SOFTBALL: Alton beats East on Dublo HR in eighth
Dublo HR lifts Alton past East
First Posted: 9:25 pm - March 31st, 2016 Updated: 9:40 am - April 1st, 2016.
By Greg Shashack - gshashack@civitasmedia.com
Alton pitcher Brittany Roady (right) and catcher Miranda Hudson celebrated a play during their victory over the EA-WR Oilers on March 22 in Wood River. Roady, Hudson and the Redbirds had more high fives Thursday in Belleville after their 4-2 eight-inning SWC victory over Belleville East.
Billy Hurst / For The Telegraph
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BELLEVILLE – Tomi Dublo walked to the plate for her two-out, eighth inning at-bat wanting nothing more than scoring the Redbird standing on third base.
“I wasn’t looking for anything special,” she said.
But special is what Dublo’s first-pitch swing produced. Her two-run home run over the fence in center field provided the winning runs in Alton’s 4-2 eight-inning Southwestern Conference softball victory over the Belleville East Lancers.
East is 7-2 and 1-1 in the SWC. The Redbirds recovered from a defensive meltdown — “It was a meltdown,” Alton coach Dan Carter confirmed – that enabled the Lancers to draw even at 2-2 in the sixth inning to stay unbeaten at 8-0.
That perfect getaway that includes a 4-2 SWC victory over O’Fallon on Thursday is significant for the Redbirds. “That’s a pretty darn good week, isn’t it?,” Carter said of a 2-0 conference start against two perennial SWC powers.
For pitcher Alton senior Brittany Roady, 8-0 has a more basic meaning. “That just means we have to come out and be 9-0 on Tuesday,” Roady said.
Tuesday brings another SWC challenge when the Redbirds play at home against three-time defending league champion Edwardsville.
“I just told the girls, enjoy the heck out of this tonight and come into practice ready to work because we’ve got Edwardsville on Tuesday. At 2:20 tomorrow when we get ready to practice, it’s time to go back to work,” said Carter, who rejected any suggestion that the Tigers are down a bit in 2016. “Like I’ve been saying all year, until somebody knocks (Edwardsville) off, they’re at the top of the heap.
“You can say they’re down, people may be saying that, but they’re still Edwardsville and they’re still the Southwestern Conference reigning champion.”
The Redbirds took down one traditional nemesis in the Lancers. East had won 17 of its last 18 dates with Alton. And the Redbirds had not won at East since 2004. “I don’t care what year it is, you come in here and get a win,” Carter said, “you’ve got to be proud of your girls.”
Roady continued her stellar start, improving to 8-0 while lowering her ERA to 0.57.
“We’ve got to give props to Brittany Roady,” Dublo said. “She’s been throwing really good. My team’s been doing really good and we have to stay as team.”
Roady struck out seven, walked no one and gave five hits. Both of East’s runs were unearned in a sixth inning that saw the Redbirds commit three of their four errors.
“We’re still learning,” Carter said. “It is high school sports for a reason. We’re still teaching and we’re still learning. But we responded.”
East squandered an opportunity to seize momentum in the first inning when Jessica Belzer’s single and Alton’s outfield error put a runner on third base with nobody out. But Roady got a strikeout, a come-backer to the circle and a foul pop to strand the Lancer at third. “That was huge,” Carter said.
East coach Natalie Peters agreed. “We have to score in that situation,” she said. “And we did not execute that. We’re better than that. We’ll fix it.”
Alton broke through with a run in the fourth inning when Bronte Fencel’s infield single off the pitcher’s glove scored Savannah Fisher from third. The Redbirds made it 2-0 in the sixth inning when Tami Wong led off with an infield single and went to third on a throwing error. She would score on a passed ball.
After East tied it in the bottom of the sixth, it still had the bases loaded with one out. Roady’s wild pitch sent the runner home from third, but Alton catcher Miranda Hudson made a quick retreat to the short backstop and fed Roady to cut down the runner at the plate.
“That would have been the game,” Carter said.
Instead, the Redbirds reached extra innings and Dublo delivered. “I did not know it was going to go out,” Dublo said of her third homer. “I was hoping – obviously.”
Fencel and Wong each finished with two hits for Alton, which will seek its first SWC sweep of East since 2004 when the Lancers visit Godfrey on April 26.
“They played a very good softball game today,” Peters said of the Redbirds. “And, honestly, I think they deserved to win. I think they outplayed us. We just have to get our offense figured out. It’s not where it needs to be.”
Still, back-to-back wins over O’Fallon and East was significant for an Alton program seeking its first-ever SWC championship.
“This one was really big because we know Belleville East is really tough,” Roady said. “We knew that coming in, we knew that before the game watching them warm up, we had to be on top of our game. We had a little fluke inning, but any game can have that. We’ve just got to come back and battle. And we did.”
Greg Shashack may be reached at 618-798-1486 or on Twitter @gregshashack
Redbird Softball hands O'Fallon first defeat - The Telegraph - 3/29/2016
Updated on 06/10/2022
TUESDAY’S PREP SOFTBALL ROUNDUP: Alton hands O’Fallon first defeat
First Posted: 12:48 am - March 30th, 2016
By Greg Shashack - gshashack@civitasmedia.com
Alton’s Brittany Roady
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The first Southwestern Conference championship in Alton Redbirds softball history remains far from accomplished with 13 dates remaining in a 14-game league schedule.
But Tuesday was an impressive first step for the Redbirds.
With Brittany Roady tossing a two-hitter, Alton opened SWC play with a 4-2 victory over the O’Fallon Panthers in a clash of unbeaten teams in Godfrey. The Redbirds, who face another tough SWC test Thursday at Belleville East, are 7-0. O’Fallon, which had allowed just three runs in its first five games, drops to 5-1.
The Redbirds never trailed, grabbing leads of 1-0 after one inning and 2-1 after three innings before tacking on two runs in the fifth to go up 4-1.
Tami Wong went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI for the Redbirds, who got two hits from Katelyn Presley and two RBI from Miranda Hudson. Roady gave two runs (zero earned) on six hits and one walk while striking out five.
O’Fallon pitcher Addison Barnouski, a Southeast Missouri recruit, took the loss. She allowed four runs (two earned) while striking out 10 and walking on one.
Alton is off to a 6-0 start in Softball - STLHighSchoolSports - 3/28/2016
Updated on 06/10/2022
Alton is off to a 6-0 start; Gillespie and New Athens remain undefeated
Tami Wong of Alton dives back safely into first base as the ball gets away on a pickoff play during a game on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 at Wood River High School. Paul Kopsky, STLhighschoolsports.com
Alton outfielder Sydney Hartman reaches but can't make the catch of a fly ball off the bat of Emme Flanigan of Wood River during a game on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 at Wood River High School. It was the lone hit of the game for Wood River. Paul Kopsky, STLhighschoolsports.com
The start of Alton's nonconference softball game with Roxana was pushed back two hours from its mid-morning start due to low temperatures and wet grounds.
The delay didn't seem to effect the Redbirds' bats as they pounded 11 hits on the way to an 11-1 victory over the visiting Shells (2-5).
Alton (6-0) has scored 64 runs this season.
Senior Katelyn Presley led the charge going 4-for-4 with two runs and two hits. Freshman Tami Wong drove in two runs, sophomore Rachael McCoy scored three times.
Junior Sydney Hartman knocked in two. Sophomore Taylor Herrin and senior Alicia Goewey had a hit, run and RBI.
Senior Brittany Roady went the distance for the win. She gave up six hits and struck out six.
Redbirds strike early, roll past Shells - AdVantage News - 3/28/2016
GODFREY — The Alton Redbirds enjoyed a team breakfast Monday morning before their softball game with rival Roxana.
No doubt, it was a quick start meal.
The Redbirds got going immediately and walloped the Shells, 11-1, in a 5-inning nonconference game. Alton improved to 6-0, while Roxana dropped to 2-5.
“Wins can be hard to get, so they are a good thing,” said 17th-year AHS head coach Dan Carter. “And we are off to a good start.
“Now, we will have O’Fallon here on Tuesday to start our (Southwestern) Conference play.”
The competition may change when O’Fallon, 4-0 going into this week, visits AHS. Yet the Redbirds aim to be just as resourceful.
Alton plated 11 runs on 10 hits and took advantage of 7 Roxana errors to make the most of its short-game victory Monday. Senior Katelyn Presley led the charge by going 4-for-4 and driving home a run.
“She went 4-for-4 against a decent pitcher, too,” Carter said, referring to the Shells’ Hannah Rexford.
Presley added, “That’s my first four-hit game this season. I’m seeing the ball well and I think it helps when the rest of the team hits, too.”
Freshman Tami Wong contributed a two-run single and sophomore Taylor Herrin supplied a run-scoring single to back winning pitcher Brittany Roady.
The senior right-hander allowed six hits and an earned run in five innings. Roady improved to 6-0 with a 0.83 ERA. She struck out six and walked two.
“I feel really good when I go out there,” Roady said of her work in the circle. “I’m getting a lot of support offensively.”
Carter noted, “She has pitched well and did a nice job out there today.”
Roady said the Redbirds have the ability to rally around each other for a successful season.
“What we need to keep doing is pick each other up and come together,” she said.
Roxana, which is scheduled to welcome Staunton on Tuesday in a South Central Conference contest, needs a pick-me-up, coach Mike Arbuthnot said.
It likely begins with the Shells’ defense, which faltered against the Redbirds and enabled the winners to score nine unearned runs. Rexford, the losing pitcher, worked 4-plus innings.
“The kids are playing hard, but we aren’t making plays in the field,” he said. Roxana has yielded more than 30 unearned runs thus far this season.
Abruthnot added, “It doesn’t matter what kind of error that is made. You just have to make plays. We gave Alton a lot of extra outs. You can’t do that against a team that hits the ball and puts it in play like they do. It’s sort of the same thing we did in the game with Civic Memorial.”
The Eagles outslugged the Shells, 24-12, on March 24 in Roxana.
Ashley Betts of the Shells collected two hits against Alton, while Taylor Antoine had a run-scoring single. Roxana strung together three singles and a walk in the second inning, but scored only once.
Meanwhile, the Redbirds built a 7-1 lead after two innings, made it 8-1 an inning later and tacked on three runs in the fifth. Miranda Hudson and Alicia Goewey both chipped in with RBI singles to boost their cause.
Carter said the Birds have a nice blend of experience and youth, Wong, a freshman who played two positions against Roxana, is one of those promising newcomers. She was 1-for-3 and reached base twice.
“She has a little bit of confidence going and she doesn’t play like a freshman,” Carter said.
And while that power breakfast may have sparked the Redbirds in this one, it’s more plausible their overall trust in themselves is carrying them.
“We know our schedule is going to get tougher, starting with our next game,” Presley said.
So the Redbirds should find out how high they can fly.
"We have a lot of confidence," Presley said.
NONCONFERENCE
ALTON 11, ROXANA 1
Roxana 010 00 – 1 6 7
Alton 341 03 – 11 10 1
Roxana (2-5) — Ashley Betts 2-3, Abi Stahlhut 1-2, Shelbie Jackson 1-2, Alexis Counts 1-2, Taylor Antoine 1-2 RBI. LP – Hannah Rexford IP-4 H-10 R-11 ER-2 BB-1 K-5
Alton (6-0) – Katelyn Presley 4-4 RBI, Miranda Hudson 1-3 RBI, Savannah Fisher 1-3, Tomi Dublo 1-3, Tami Wong 1-3 RBI-2, Taylor Herrin 1-2 3B RBI, Alicia Goewey 1-1 RBI. WP – Brittany Roady IP-5 H-6 R-1 ER-1 BB-2 K-6
- See more at: http://advantagenews.com/sports/softball-redbirds-strike-early-roll-past-shells/#sthash.6auJbPk0.dpuf
Redbirds grab Softball win over Shells - The Telegraph - 3/29/2016
Updated on 06/10/2022
Redbirds grab softball win over Shells
MONDAY PREP ROUNDUP
First Posted: 8:13 pm - March 28th, 2016
Telegraph Staff Report
Alton’s Tami Wong had a hit and two RBIs in her team’s victory over Roxana Monday at Alton High School.
Billy Hurst File Photo | For The Telegraph
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The Alton Redbirds jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first inning and and ran their record to 6-0 on the season with an 11-1 victory Monday at AHS. They added four more runs in the second inning, one in the third and three in the fifth. Roxana scored its run in the second inning.
Three Alton players had a pair of RBIs each. Katelyn Presley was 4 for 4 with two RBIs and a stolen base, Sydney Hartman was 1 for 3 with a double and two RBIs and Tami Wong was 1 for 3 with two RBIs. The Redbirds’ Tomi Dublo, Savannah Fisher, Alicia Goewey, Taylor Herrin and Miranda Hudson each had a hit.
In the circle, Alton’s Brittany Roady worked five innings, allowed one earned run, walked two and struck out six.
Roxana’s Taylor Antoine was 1 for1 with an RBI and teammate Ashley Betts was 2 for 3. Other Sehlls hits came from Alexis Counts, Shelby Jackson and Abbey Stalhut. The Shells are 2-5.
Roady, Wong provide punch leading Redbirds over EA-WR - STLToday - 3/22/2016
Updated on 06/10/2022
Roady, Wong provide punch to lead Alton past Wood River
Redbirds pitcher almost perfect - The Telegraph - 3/22/2016
Updated on 06/10/2022
PREP SOFTBALL: Redbirds pitcher almost perfect
Alton’s ‘W’ over Oilers all that matters to Roady
First Posted: 8:12 pm - March 22nd, 2016 Updated: 9:09 pm - March 22nd, 2016.
By Louie Korac - For The Telegraph
Alton’s Tami Wong (right) is congratulated by teammate Brittany Roady after Wong’s home run in the Redbirds’ 11-0 nonconference victory over the East Alton-Wood River Oilers on Tuesday in Wood River.
Billy Hurst / For The Telegraph
Alton pitcher Brittany Roady delivers a pitch during her one-hit shutout of the Oilers on Tuesday in Wood River.
Billy Hurst / For The Telegraph
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WOOD RIVER — It finally hit Brittany Roady in the fifth inning that perfection was at her fingertips.
The Alton senior pitcher was cruising along, mowing down batter after batter with a comfortable lead for the second time in as many days.
Roady didn’t finish with a perfect game, but in her words, “The ‘W’ is all that matters.”
Roady finished with a complete-game one-hitter and was backed by a five-RBI performance from freshman Tami Wong in Alton’s 11-0 five-inning nonconference win against host East Alton-Wood River Tuesday at EA-WR High School.
The Redbirds (2-0), who held off Quincy 9-7 in their opener on Monday, was faced with little resistance with Roady on the mound.
“I went out there the last inning and it just hit me all of the sudden,” said Roady, who finished with eight strikeouts and no walks. “I was like, ‘Wow, this could be a perfect game.’ I knew how many strikeouts I had; two more was my goal, but as soon as it hit me that it could be a perfect game, I could not put anything over the plate and she went and got that one; it was a good hit. It did upset me a little bit.
“I wish I wouldn’t have thought about it. I think it would have changed things for sure.”
She being EA-WR’s Emme Flanigan, who doubled to left with one out in the fifth inning but was stranded at third. It would be the only base runner the Oilers (2-3) would see run on this day.
“She did a very nice job; she pitched a very good game after throwing a very good game (Monday),” Alton coach Dan Carter said of Roady. “… She’s the workhorse of our team, senior leader. She wants the ball, wants to be in the circle and we’re going to give it to her as long as she’s feeling healthy and feeling good.
“I wasn’t going to take her our today knowing we had (a perfect game) going.”
EA-WR’s Morgan Moxey was not as fortunate in the circle for the Oilers, although she was the victim of some untimely errors.
The Oilers committed four of them in all that led to 10 unearned runs, as Moxey finished with two walks and seven strikeouts to go with the six hits she allowed.
“She’s proven that she belongs,” EA-WR coach Dana Emerick said of Moxey. “We’ve put our trust in her. She’s our No. 1 and did a great job. I know at one point, they had five runs on one or two hits. No problems there. We’re happy to have her pitch for us.”
Alton supplied all the offense Roady would need when Wong’s swirling opposite-field home run to right got caught in a jet stream and sliced away from EA-WR right fielder Bekah Null with one out in the second inning for a 1-0 Redbirds lead.
Wong would again come up with a big hit in the third with a two-out, two-run double as Alton plated four in the third and she capped her day at the plate with a two-run single in a six-run fifth.
“Tami’s a work in progress,” Carter said. “We don’t want to put her up there too fast, too quick. We knew she was going to be coming in and she does a nice job. She works hard, she’s very coachable. Even better than her hitting, she’s very versatile.
“… That double was a real nice hit. She turned on that pitch and got it right down the line. That was probably a better at-bat than the one that was the home run.”
When Alton was able to come up with two big offensive innings in this game, they came after critical errors in the field by the Oilers. Two in each of the third and fifth innings led to the 10 unearned runs.
Alton sophomore Taylor Herrin laced a bases-clearing triple into the right-center field gap in the top of the fifth inning to provide the necessary runs to make it a short game.
“Let’s face it, Alton’s better than us,” Emerick said. “For us to beat them, we’ve got to come up with an extraordinary effort and we didn’t do that tonight.”
WOOD RIVER — It was nearly a perfect afternoon for the Alton Redbirds.
Senior pitcher Brittany Roady tossed 4.1 innings of perfect softball as the Redbirds dismissed the East Alton-Wood River 11-0 in five innings on Tuesday in Wood River.
AHS improved to 2-0 on the season with the win, while EA-WR slipped to 2-3 with the loss.
Roady sat down 13 Oilers in a row before senior second baseman Emme Flanigan blasted a double to left field to break up the perfect game. In the end the Birds were just happy to notch a victory.
“I didn't know until the last inning after the first batter,” Roady said of her potential perfect game. “It sunk in right before she got the hit. I could not get it over the plate and she went and got that; it was a good hit, but she definitely went and got that.”
Alton head coach Dan Carter added, “(Roady) did a real nice job. She pitched a real good game after throwing a very good game (Monday vs. Quincy). She's probably going to go again tomorrow against Bunker Hill. She's the workhorse of our team, senior leader, she wants the ball and she wants to be in the circle and we're going to give it to her as long as she's feeling healthy.”
Adding to Alton's stellar day was a new kid on the block — freshman Tami Wong. Wong went 3 for 3 with a home run, a double and five RBIs.
Her second-inning homer to right field snapped a scoreless stalemate. With winds gusting and no fence at the EA-WR High field, Wong's knock to right tailed away from right fielder Rebecca Null and allowed the AHS freshman to motor around the bases.
“I've seen Morgan Moxey before, because we played each other in select,” Wong said. “I already knew what to expect. I knew she hit the outside corner, so I tried to stay more into the box and that first hit (home run) just gave me confidence.”
EA-WR head coach Dana Emerick has all the confidence in the world in his sophomore ace Moxey. She fanned seven, walked two and hit two more batters on Tuesday, surrendering 11 runs, but only one earned. She was hampered by four Oiler errors in the field.
“She’s proven that she belongs,” Emerick said. “We’ve put our trust in her. She’s our No. 1 and did a great job. I know at one point, they had five runs on one or two hits. No problems there. We’re happy to have her pitch for us.”
Emerick tipped his cap to Roady, too. He thought the home plate umpire was giving a big strike zone for both teams and Roady definitely took advantage.
“Everything is low and she had a big strike zone today, which benefitted both pitchers,” Emerick said. “But with that big strike zone we couldn't do anything with that outside pitch. She's an up down pitcher, she goes outside, keeps it low and comes back with a rise ball. We were prepared for it, we just didn't execute it.”
The Redbirds opened it up in the third inning. Rachel McCoy was plunked with a pitch to start the inning and after being sacrificed to second, Katelyn Presley coaxed a walk and another sacrifice moved the runners up. With two outs, Savannah Fisher reached via an error allowing McCoy and Presley to score. A throwing error allowed Fisher to advance to third.
After Tomi Dublo was hit by a pitch, Wong came through again, rapping a two-run double and elevating the Alton lead to 5-0.
“Tami's unbelievable,” Roady said. “She's good.”
AHS put the finishing touches on its win in the fifth, sending 10 batters to the plate and tacking on six runs. Presley started things with an infield single and after a strikeout, back-to-back hard hit balls to center by Fisher and Dublo went for errors, allowing Presley to score.
Wong then smacked a two-run single through the middle to score Fisher and Dublo and make it 8-0. A two-out single by Sydney Hartman and a walk to McCoy loaded the bases for sophomore Taylor Herrin, who banged a bases clearing triple to right center to up it to 11-0.
Roady went back out in the fifth to put the finishing touches on her perfect day, but Flanigan spoiled it with a one-out double to left field.
Emerick wasn't surprised to see Flanigan get the lone hit for the Oilers.
“She's our best hitter so far,” Emerick said. “She's really strong, been active in the weight room. That was not a surprise.”
With all his players back from last season, including his ace pitcher, and then throw in the addition of Wong, Carter is optimistic for good things out of the Redbirds in '16. He expects Tuesday's performance to be a trend, not an aberration.
“When you've got everybody back, you won 20 games last year and throw somebody like Tami in there and the second half of last season Dublo was injured, so now we've got everybody back, more girls to work with and we can get some girls some days off when we need to,” Carter said.
Next up for Alton is Bunker Hill at 4 p.m. on the road Wednesday, while the Oilers head to Triad at 4:15 p.m. Friday for their next contest.
NON-CONFERENCE
ALTON 11, EA-WR 0, FIVE INNINGS
Redbirds 014 06 — 11 6 0
Oilers 000 00 — 0 1 4
Alton (2-0) — Katelyn Presley 1-3 SB, Miranda Hudson 0-2 SAC, Tomi Dublo 0-2 HBP, Tami Wong 3-3 2B HR 5 RBIs, Sydney Hartman 1-3 SB, Rachel McCoy 0-1 BB HBP, Taylor Herrin 1-2 3B SAC 3 RBIs.
WP — Brittany Roady 5.0IP 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 8K
EA-WR (2-3) — Emme Flanigan 1-2 2B.
LP — Morgan Moxey 5.0IP 6H 11R 1ER 2BB 7K 2HBP
- See more at: http://advantagenews.com/sports/softball-alton-s-roady-throws-one-hitter-in-win-over-ea-wr/#sthash.ymqMAQaA.dpuf
Posed from left to right are the seniors on the Alton High softball team in 2016: Alicia Goewey, Brittany Roady and Katelyn Presley.
Alton softball coach Dan Carter has conflicting expectations for his Redbird squad in 2016.
On one hand, the Birds return everyone from a 20-15 team that played for a regional championship, falling short against powerhouse Edwardsville. On the other hand, he worries that complacency may set in with the lineup remaining much the same.
“We have everybody back and that's a good thing and a bad thing,” Carter, entering his 17th season at the helm of the Redbird softball program, said. “The good thing is we've got everybody back so we're not trying to fill holes, but on the other hand we had to start from Day 1 pushing them a little bit. I didn't want them to feel comfortable that because they started last year that spot was there's. This year we're looking to move girls around and looking to improve from last year. I don't want to be content on what we put out there last year.”
First off Alton returns its pitcher in senior Brittany Roady. Roady went 16-13 a year ago with a 3.08 ERA in 184.1 innings pitched. She fanned 175 batters and walked just 40 over those innings worked.
“She was our ace last year and if she stays healthy she's going to be one of the best in the area again,” Carter said. “She's gotten a little bigger, a little stronger like you would hope a junior does going into her senior year.”
Roady is joined by two other seniors, Katelyn Presley and Alicia Goewey. Presely plugs in as the starting third baseman and secondary catcher, while Goewey will hold down right field.
Roady and Presley are both committed to Lincoln Land Community College to continue their softball careers. Goewey looks to join the military after high school.
Presley led the Redbirds in '15 with 29 stolen bases while batting .374, good for second on the team.
Pacing the offense will be junior shortstop Savannah Fisher. Fisher was first team All-Southwestern Conference as a sophomore as well as third-team all-state.
She won the triple crown out of the AHS offense, leading in batting average (.429), home runs (5) and RBIs (39). She also tied with Bronte Fencel for the team-high in doubles with 9 and led in triples with 4.
“Savannah Fisher does a great job for us as team leader ability wise,” Carter said. “She's going to be the backbone of our defense there at shortstop and she'll see some innings pitching.”
Sophomore catcher Miranda Hudson should be a key cog for the Birds, too. Hudson hit .360 with 3 homers and 33 RBIs as a freshman.
Around the horn, Carter also expects big things from juniors, Tomi Dublo (2B), Bronte Fencel (CF) and Sydney Hartman (OF, P) as well as sophomores, Taylor Herrin (2B, OF), Shannon Jackson (OF, C), Rachel McCoy (1B) and freshman Tami Wong (OF, 3B, C).
“We're going to plug (Wong) in different spots,” Carter said. “She might be one of the few freshmen that gets a lot of innings for us compared to a few others that might nickel and dime their way in there.”
The SWC will pose another tough challenge, but Carter hopes to climb the ladder. Annual powerhouses Edwardsville and Belleville East graduated players, but both should be battling for the top again.
“Inside the conference it's going to be tough,” Carter said. “Even though Edwardsville graduated their pitcher (Kallen Loveless), they're still Edwardsville. Until someone knocks them off they're at the top of the heap. Belleville East and West are going to be tough, Collinsville was upcoming last year, Granite City had a freshman pitcher who threw really well. I'd be shocked if anyone wins this conference undefeated. I think someone could win it with two or three losses.
“I'd like think we'll move up a little bit, but we have to go out and prove it.”
Alton opens the season at 11 a.m. Saturday at Greenfield.
Roster
NAME POS
SENIORS
Alicia Goewey OF
Katelyn Presley 3B, C
Brittany Roady P, 1B
JUNIORS
Tomi Dublo 2B, OF
Bronte Fencel OF
Savannah Fisher SS, P
Mikinna Hall OF, IF
Sydney Hartman OF, P
SOPHOMORES
Taylor Herrin 2B, OF
Miranda Hudson C, SS
Shannon Jackson OF, C
Rachael McCoy 1B
FRESHMEN
Tami Wong OF, 3B
Schedule
REDBIRDS
March 19 — at Greenfield, 11 a.m.
March 21 — vs. Quincy, 4 p.m.
March 22 — at EA-WR, 4 p.m.
March 23 — at Bunker Hill, 4:15 p.m.
March 26 — at Jersey, 10 a.m.
March 28 — vs. Roxana, 10 a.m.
March 29 — vs. O'Fallon*, 4:30 p.m.
March 31 — at Belleville East*, 4:30 p.m.
April 5 — vs. Edwardsville*, 4:30 p.m.
April 6 — at Highland, 4:15 p.m.
April 7 — vs. Granite City*, 4:30 p.m.
April 11 — vs. Brussels, 4:30 p.m.
April 12 — at Collinsville*, 4:30 p.m.
April 14 — vs. Belleville West*, 4:30 p.m.
April 16 — at Jersey Cluster (Jersey, Brussels), 10 a.m.
April 18 — at Calhoun, 4:30 p.m.
April 19 — at East St. Louis*, 4:30 p.m.
April 20 — vs. Cahokia, 4:30 p.m.
April 22 — vs. Civic Memorial, 4:30 p.m.
April 26 — vs. Belleville East*, 4:30 p.m.
April 27 — vs. Metro East Lutheran, 4:30 p.m.
April 28 — at O'Fallon*, 4:30 p.m.
April 30 — vs. Alton Invitational, 10 a.m.
May 3 — at Granite City*, 4:30 p.m.
May 5 — at Edwardsville*, 4:30 p.m.
May 6 — vs. EA-WR (at Redbird Round Robin Tournament), 4:30 p.m.
May 7 — vs. Redbird Round Robin Tournament, 10 a.m.
May 10 — at Belleville West*, 4:30 p.m.
May 12 — vs. Collinsville*, 4:30 p.m.
May 14 — vs. Alton Cluster (Carrollton, Southwestern), 10 a.m.
May 17 — vs. East St. Louis*, 4:30 p.m.
May 20 — vs. Triad, 4:30 p.m.
- See more at: http://advantagenews.com/sports/spring-sports-preview_2/#sthash.HJBDC974.dpuf
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