MT. CARMEL, ILL. – A winner-take-all game will decide the first round series of the NJCAA Region 24 softball tournament.
Wabash Valley (44-17) and Lincoln Trail (21-27) split a doubleheader on Friday, forcing the decisive Game 3 on Saturday at 12-noon at Paul Schnarre Field. The winner gains a berth in the Region 24 Final Four next weekend in Mt. Vernon.
Lincoln Trail was 0-4 against WVC during the regular season but erupted for five unearned runs in the top of the seventh inning of the opener to open a 4-4 game. The Warriors scored once in the bottom of the seventh, but it was not enough in a 9-5 loss.
The 20th-ranked Warriors bounced back in the nitecap, using the long-ball to power to rally their way to a 15-5 win to earn the split and stave off elimination.
"We played well in the second game," said WVC coach Asa Deffendall. "We fell behind 5-2 and could have just quit but didn't."
The Warriors scored four runs in the bottom of the third to take a lead they would not relinquish.
Lily Garbett drove in the first run on a ground out. Casey Schweitzer added an RBI single to make it 5-4. Then, Katie Smith put WVC ahead to stay with a line drive to center field, scoring two runs to put the hosts ahead, 6-5.
The Warriors put their stamp on the game in the next inning, scoring nine times to turn things into a rout. Smith would homer to finish her four-RBI game.
Kellene Engelhart was 3-for-4 at the plate.
Mikayla Jolly started in the circle for Wabash Valley and worked the first three innings for the win. The Evansville Reitz freshman also contributed at the plate, with her first career home run in the second.
Credit Deffendall with some intuition there. He inserted Jolly, who had not batted in three weeks, into the No. 8 spot in the batting order, and the move worked like magic.
In the opener, WVC answered each Lincoln Trail outburst except the last one. The Statesmen led early, 2-0, before the Warriors countered with two in the fourth.
Lincoln Trail regained the lead with two runs in the top of the sixth. But the Warriors answered again with one swing of the bat from Gracey Himelick. Her two-run blast tied things again at 4-4.
On the day, the Warriors banged out four more home runs to increase their school single season record to 79. The old mark was 53.