Senior Nicole Koch tossed a three-hitter and the Morton softball team collected 14 hits en route to a 12-0, five-inning victory over the Canton Little Giants Wednesday afternoon in the IHSA Class 3A Morton Regional semifinal. The Lady Potters (24-8) advance to play East Peoria (22-3) in the Mid-Illini Conference showdown at 11 a.m. Saturday. Morton plated five runs each in the first innings. The first seven hitters in the Potters’ lineup all had two hits led by Taylor Namanny, who went 2-for-2 with a double, home run and five RBIs. Koch (15-7) struck out five, walked none, scattering three hits in five innings. She went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
-Bob
East Peoria (21-3, 14-0) scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat the Morton Potters 3-2 Thursday evening at Eastside Centre. Bridget Bankes knocked in Sarah Finck and Taylor Kellum for the walk off victory on senior night for the lady Red Raiders. Finck the junior pitcher for East Peoria tossed a two-hitter and struck out 15 to finish the Mid-Illini Conference unbeaten.
-Bob
Senior third baseman Spencer Gaa homered and drove in three runs and Geremy Guerrero and Trent Johnson combined to allow six hits for Metamora in a 5-2 win over the host Limestone Wednesday night that earned both a title share in the Mid-Illini Conference. Gaa, headed to Bradley University, had a two-run double to highlight a four-run second inning off Rockets left-hander Dylan Weaver. Metamora (26-5, 13-1) last won the M-I title in baseball in 1996. Limestone (22-6, 13-1), also co-champion last season, was bidding to become the first team in the 31-year history of the M-I to go unbeaten in league play. Limestone in the second got an RBI single from Dominic Johnson and Adam Schmitt scored on Josh Wormer’s sacrifice fly to make the score 4-2. Redbirds freshman lefty Geremy Guerrero used the defensive support to face the minimum from the third through fifth innings and allowed five hits, struck out two and walked one. Sophomore Trent Johnson came on in the sixth. In the seventh he got Sean Green to ground into a force for the final out with two runners on.
-Bob
Tremont pitcher Jaycee Craver tossed a no-hitter and the hosts opened the IHSA Class 2A Tremont Regional play with a 12-0, five-inning victory over Deer Creek-Mackinaw on Tuesday afternoon. Craver (17-0) allowed just two baserunners — a walk and an error — in striking out six. The sophomore needed just 63 pitches, and a ball never left the infield. Rachel Patterson (3-for-3, double, three RBIs) gave Craver some run support with a first-inning, two-run homer. Jill Runyon’s two-RBI single highlighted the three-run second. In the third, Kali Sanders hit a three-run homer as a part of the six-run third. That frame also saw Tanner Garey (3-for-3) drive home Kennedy Runyon (3-for-3, RBI), who along with her sister, Jill (3-for-4, three RBIs), had back-to-back RBI singles. The top-seed Turks (24-0) face either Havana or Midwest Central in the 11 a.m. Saturday final.
-Bob
Limestone senior pitcher Zach Jewell was brilliant in a 2-0 victory over Metamora (25-5, 12-1)in a matchup of Mid-Illini Conference baseball unbeatens Monday evening. The Rockets (22-5, 13-0) right-hander allowed three hits, no walks and struck out six in the complete-game win. Trent Johnson, the Redbirds sophomore committed to the University of Arizona, got an inning-ending double play to escape a bases-loaded sitiation in the bottom of the fourth. Limestone loaded the bases again in the sixth, on Dylan Weaver’s single surrounded by two walks. Dominic Johnson, also a sophomore, who fanned in his first two at-bats, bounced a single through the left side that scored pinch-runner Ray Vogel and Weaver. In the seventh Jewell retired Trent Johnson and Brendan Nachtrieb on strikes after Alec Skender singled and reached second. Metamora will travel to play Limestone again in two days at 7 p.m.
-Bob
