Spring Sports Season Winding Down

By Craig Lang

Prairie Advocate Sports

With only a handful of games remaining in the regular season, the spring baseball and softball seasons are just about over. The wet spring weather has put a major damper on the regular schedules with numerous games rained out and rescheduled.

The IHSA will release their regional and sectional pairings on Friday, April 29th and the regional and sectional sites have already been determined. In baseball Amboy will host a Class 1A regional with Eastland, Milledgeville, Fulton, Erie/P’town, AFC and Amboy playing there. The East Dubuque regional will include River Ridge/Scales Mound, Pearl City, Warren/Stockton, Galena, Le-Win and East Dubuque. That sectional will be played at Le-Win.

In Class 2A West Carroll will host their regional with Forreston, Durand/Pec, Sterling Newman Winnebago and West Carroll participating. The Morrison regional will include Port Byron/Riverdale, Erie/P’town, Rock Falls, Rock Island Alleman and the Mustangs. Their sectional will be held at Byron.

In Class 1A softball Fulton will host with Erie/P’town, Freeport Aquin, Fulton, Eastland, Milledgeville and Pearl City playing. The Scales Mound regional includes East Dubuque, Galena, Le-Win, Stockton and River Ridge/Scales Mound. The sectional competition will be held at Eastland High School in Lanark.

In Class 2A Sterling Newman regional, the West Carroll Lady Thunder, Morrison Fillies, Oregon, Rock Falls and Sterling Newman will participate. Their sectional will also be hosted by Byron High School.

As soon as regional pairings are announced you’ll be able to find them online at www.pacc-news.com and in our print edition of the Prairie Advocate on May 4th. Hope to see you at the diamonds.

Baseball

Bulldogs Shut Out Missiles

The Freeport Aquin Bulldogs hosted the Milledgeville Missiles on Monday afternoon at Highland Community College and took home the 7-0 shut out win. Aquin took an early one to nothing lead in the second inning as the Bulldogs scored one run on one hit. The run came via a Kameron DawTyne balk with an Aquin base runner on third. Aquin scored their second run of the game on an RBI groundout with a base runner on third. The Bulldogs put up another unanswered run in the third and put up three more runs n the bottom of the fifth on three hits. They would tally one more run in the bottom half of the sixth inning to make the final margin of victory.

Zach Gogle took the pitching win for Aquin, going three innings and giving up three hits with one walk and two strike outs. The Missiles Kameron DawTyne took the loss for Milledgeville, going four innings and giving up three of Freeport Aquin’s seven runs.

(1-7,1-5) Milledgeville-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-5-1

Freeport Aquin-0-1-1-1-3-1-X-7-6-0

WP: Gogle 3IP, 0R, 3H, 1BB, 2K

LP: DawTyne 4IP, 3R, 2ER, 2H

2B; Milledgeville: 3 (Flynn, Groen, Herin)

Freeport Aquin: 3 (Brannick 2, Shaw)

West Carroll Blanks Milledgeville

The Thunder’s Evan Williams takes a pitch low during Wednesday baseball action in Thomson. Evan had two singles at the plate, scored two runs and pitched in relief of starter Nick Hughes to earn the win over the Milledgeville Missiles. (PA photo/Craig Lang)

Milledgeville’s Dennis Layman delivers a pitch to a Thunder batter during baseball action in Thomson. Dennis pitched two innings for the Missiles, giving up four runs on five hits in the Thunder 10-0 win. (PA photo/Craig Lang)

Behind the pitching of starter Nick Hughes and reliever Evan Williams, the West Carroll Thunder capitalized on timely hitting and four Milledgeville errors to take the 10-0 win in Thomson on Wednesday afternoon. Hughes pitched the first three innings, allowing no runs and only three hits while walking one and striking out six Missile batters.

Williams pitched the final two innings, giving up no runs and three hits while striking out three. West Carroll put up three runs in the bottom of the first on three hits and one Missile error. They added another run in the bottom half of the second and another in the fourth before exploding for five fifth innings runs to put the contest out of reach. Williams aided his own cause at the plate going two for three. The Thunder’s Tyler Jones blasted a solo home run to left center field in the fourth. Milledgeville’s Dennis Layman took the pitching loss, going two innings and giving up four runs, two earned.

Milledgeville-0-0-0-0-0-0-6-4

(7-9,2-3) West Carroll-3-1-0-1-5-10-7-0

WP: Hughes 3IP, 0R, 3H, 1BB, 6K

LP: Layman 2IP, 4R, 2ER

2B: Milledgeville: 1 (Gibbs)

West Carroll: 2 (Hughes, Whitebread)

HR: West Carroll: 1 (Jones)

River Ridge/Scales Mound Scores Big On Wolves

The River Ridge/Scales Mound baseball team traveled to Pearl City on Thursday and went home with the lopsided 11-1 victory. RR/SM pounded out eleven hits and scored in all but two innings while limiting Pearl City to a single fourth inning run. The Wildcats took a one to nothing first inning lead and put up six more runs in the second to open the game up.

The Wolves made the score seven to one in the fourth but RR/SM countered, scoring four more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to seal the win. Zack Moyer and Colton Bastian each had a pair of doubles for Pearl City. The Wolves Keagan Blasing took the pitching loss.

Wolves head coach Bill Johnson said, “It was a cold blustery night and we just couldn’t get our bats to wake up. River Ridge had several seeing eye singles and were running the bases real well.”

River Ridge/Scales Mound-1-6-0-0-1-3-11-11-1

(4-6,1-3) Pearl City-0-0-0-1-0-0-1-5-2

WP: Ertmer

LP: Blasing

2B; Pearl City: 4 (Bastian 2, Moyer 2)

Cougars Come Back To Beat Panthers

Eastland Cougar starting pitcher Tyler Giedd delivers a pitch to a Le-Win Panther hitter during Thursday afternoon baseball action in Lanark. Tyler pitched a complete game, striking out eleven in the Cougars 6-5 win. (PA photo/Craig Lang)

In a makeup game from Monday, April 18th, the Eastland Cougars played the visiting team in Lanark against the Le-Win Panthers on Thursday afternoon and came back from a five to one deficit to take the 6-5 win. Eastland struck first as Panther starting pitcher Tom Rothschadl issued a bases loaded walk to put the Cougars up one to nothing. Eastland starter Tyler Giedd gave up a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to make it a two to one game going into the second.

The Panther’s struck for three more runs in the top of the fourth inning to take the five to one lead. Despite not being able to get their bats going for the next four innings, the Cougars bats came back to life in the fifth as they put three runs on the score board to close the gap to five to four going to the sixth inning.

Eastland managed to knot the score at five in the sixth and a Dylan Stichter sacrifice fly gave the Cougars the 6-5 come from behind victory. Giedd went all eight innings on the mound for Eastland, notching eleven strikeouts.

(9-5,4-2) Eastland-1-0-0-0-3-1-0-1-6

(8-8,3-2) Le-Win-2-0-0-3-0-0-0-0-5

WP: Giedd

LP: Schroeder

2B: Eastland: (Giedd)

Le-Win: 2 (Schroeder, Werhane)

Baseball Scores

April 21

Freeport Aquin 9 Orangeville 4

Softball

Eastland Tops West Carroll

West Carroll’s Dana McCombie takes a cut at a pitch during Thursday afternoon softball action at EHS. The Lady Cougars went on to take the 3-1 victory over the Lady Thunder. (PA photo/Craig Lang)

The Lady Cougars hosted the West Carroll Lady Thunder on Thursday afternoon in Lanark and came away with the close 3-1 victory. Eastland got on the score board first scoring a lone run in the bottom of the first inning. The Lady Thunder came back to tie the contest in the top of the fourth inning but the Lady Cougars responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to make the final margin of victory.

Eastland’s Marissa Harris pitched a gem, going the distance and allowing four West Carroll hits while walking none and striking out a dozen Lady Thunder hitters. The win improves her record to eleven wins against just two losses on the season. West Carroll’s Kim Durward took the pitching loss, going six innings and allowing three runs on four hits while walking one and striking out three Lady Cougar hitters. At the plate, Lady Cougar Taylor Ruter led the way, going two for three with a pair of doubles and one run batted in.

“Marissa Harris was really the key to this game,” said West Carroll head coach Don Mathey, “She struck out twelve and walked none. Taylor Ruter also had a big game for them. It was a good ball game, we would be more competitive if we could put the bat on the ball more.”

(13-7,7-1) West Carroll-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-1-4-1

(13-6,7-0) Eastland-1-0-0-2-0-0-X-3-4-0

WP: Harris (11-2) 7IP, 1R, 1ER, 4H, 0BB, 12K

LP: Durward (9-5) 6IP, 3R, 3ER, 4H, 1BB, 3K

2B; Eastland: 4 (Ruter 2, Harris, Nepean)

F/S Score: Eastland 9 West Carroll 8

Softball Scores

April 20

Morrison 5 Forreston/Polo 0

Orangeville 5 Le-Win 2

April 21

Morrison 8 Rock Island Alleman 5

Orangeville 18 Dakota 0

Galena 7 Stockton 2

Forreston/Polo 13 Freeport Aquin 2

Milledgeville 10 Durand/Pec 0

Milledgeville 17 Durand/Pec 1

Baseball & Softball Schedule

April 27

(BB) Erie/P’town at Forreston/Polo

April 28

(BB) Morrison at Fulton

(SB) Morrison at Fulton

(SB) Eastland at River Ridge/Scales Mound

(SB) West Carroll at Stockton

(BB) Galena at West Carroll

(SB) Dakota at Forreston/Polo

April 29

(BB) Durand/Pec at Milledgeville

(BB) Eastland vs. Warren/Stockton @ Warren

(SB) Fulton Unity at Forreston/Polo

(BB) Forreston/Polo vs. Freeport Aquin @ Highland CC

April 30

(BB) Milledgeville at South Beloit

(SB) Milledgeville at South Beloit

May 2

(SB) Milledgeville at Geneseo

(BB) Amboy at Morrison

(SB) Amboy at Morrison

(SB) Dakota at West Carroll

(BB) West Carroll at Forreston/Polo

(SB) Forreston/Polo vs. Freeport Aquin @ Read Park

May 3

(BB) Milledgeville at Forreston/Polo

(SB) Galena at Eastland

(BB) Galena at Eastland

(BB) West Carroll at Le-Win

(SB) Forreston/Polo at Orangeville

Midwest League Schedule

April 27

Lake County at Fort Wayne

Burlington at Beloit

South Bend at Bowling Green

Kane County at Cedar Rapids

Quad Cities at Wisconsin

West Michigan at Dayton

Great Lakes at Lansing

Peoria at Clinton

April 28

Fort Wayne at Dayton

South Bend at Lake County

West Michigan at Lansing

Kane County at Burlington

Peoria at Beloit

Clinton at Wisconsin

Great Lakes at Bowling Green

Cedar Rapids at Quad Cities

April 29

Kane County at Burlington

Lansing at West Michigan

Fort Wayne at Dayton

South Bend at Lake County

Peoria at Beloit

Clinton at Wisconsin

Cedar Rapids at Quad Cities

Great Lakes at Bowling Green

April 30

Lansing at West Michigan

South Bend at Lake County

Clinton at Wisconsin

Peoria at Beloit

Fort Wayne at Dayton

Kane County at Burlington

Cedar Rapids at Quad Cities

Great Lakes at Bowling Green

May 1

Cedar Rapids at Kane County

Beloit at Clinton

Peoria at Burlington

Dayton at Bowling Green

West Michigan at Fort Wayne

Great Lakes at South Bend

Wisconsin at Quad Cities

Lake County at Lansing

May 2

Wisconsin at Quad Cities

Cedar Rapids at Kane County

Great Lakes at South bend

Lake County at Lansing

West Michigan at Fort Wayne

Beloit at Clinton

Peoria at Burlington

Dayton at Bowling Green

May 3

Lake County at Lansing

West Michigan at Fort Wayne

Dayton at Bowling Green

Peoria at Burlington

Cedar Rapids at Kane County

Great Lakes at South Bend

Beloit at Clinton

Wisconsin at Quad Cities

Bowling League Results

Women’s Wednesday Night League

April 13

1-Pruis Upholstery 48.5-15.5

2-Hilltop 42.5-21.5

3-Smith & Associates 32-32

4-Green & Clean 31.5-32.5

5-FAT Boy’s 29-35

6-KJ’s Bar & Grill 25.5-38.5

7-Ken Kophamer Realty 25-39

8-Goldstar FS 22-42

High Individual Game

Dana Nelson 214, Angie Piercy 203, Angie Howell 199, Paula Wiersema 198, Deb Manninen 195

High Individual Series

Dana Nelson 552, Angie Piercy 539, Paula Wiersema 536, Ginny Butts 518, Deb Manninen 509, Audrey Foltz 509

Hilltop League

April 15

1-Hilltop 37-23

2-Roger’s Roughriders 37-23

3-CAR Quest 34-26

4-DA BEERS 31-29

5-FAT Boy’s 27-33

6-Ridley Appraisals 26-34

7-Nelson Electric 25-35

8-AG Express 23-37

High Individual Game

Eddie Ruiz 245, Brian Drehmer 245, Daryl Schroeder 241, Mike Hamilton 237, Chris Osborn 224, Jeff Workman 221

High Individual Series

Eddie Ruiz 622, Jeff Workman 617, Brian Drehmer 613, Matt Tegeler 599, Daryl Schroeder 596