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
Freshman LHP Brent Stong gave Bradley 7.0 strong innings and senior LF Mike Tauchman was 2-for-4 with a double, run scored and RBI, but Evansville (23-33) staved off elimination in the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship when Kevin Kaczmarski launched a 3-run, walk-off home run, lifting the Purple Aces to a 4-3 win in Wednesday’s second round at Duffy Bass Field. The loss ends the Braves season at 17-32 and Tauchman, the Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year, will have to wait and see if his school-record .425 season batting average stands up as the nation’s best through the remainder of the postseason. Stong limited Evansville to one run on four hits in his longest outing of the season, 7.0 innings, then gave way to fellow freshman Elliot Ashbeck to start the eighth. Ashbeck (0-2) worked a perfect eighth, but ran into trouble with one out in the ninth. After surrendering a single to No. 8 hitter, shortstop Shain Showers, Ashbeck walked No. 9 hitter Andy Lasher before Kaczmarski lined his game-winning blast over the right-field wall.
-Bob
Normal CornBelters left fielder Romulo Ruiz blasted a three-run homer off of Windy City Thunderbolts pitcher Rich Hawkins for a 7-6 victory in there Frontier League home-opener before 2,713 fans at the Corn Crib. The Belters (3-1) led the entire way until Windy City (1-4) scored three unearned runs in the sixth to grab a 6-4 lead. The top five hitters in Normal’s lineup contributed 11 of the team’s 12 hits. Mike Schwartz, Pat McKenna and Ruiz had three hits each. Mitch Mormann (1-0), who relieved starter Drew Provence in the fifth, earned the win. Casey Upperman pitched two innings of hitless relief for his second save. The two teams meet again Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. for the second game of the opening series.
-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
