The West Prairie/Southeastern softball team finally broke into the win column in a big way this week with back-to-back victories over Peoria Heights and South Fulton.
On Monday, the Cyclones traveled to Peoria Heights and exploded for 10 runs in the first inning enroute to a 20-1 four-inning Prairieland Conference victory over the Patriots.
WP/SE would tack on six more runs in the second and three more in the third to extend the advantage to 19-0.
The Patriots would finally get on the scoreboard with a single run in the bottom of the third, but WP/SE answered with a run in the top of the fourth and shut down the Heights in the bottom of the frame to get the win.
WP/SE (1-8,1-5) pounded out 10 hits in the contest and took advantage of eight Peoria Heights errors.
Adriana Starks led the Cyclones with three runs batted in while Kenda Nelson and Sara Shelton each drove in two runs to pace the WP/SE attack.
Freshman Arianna Soule got the win after allowing no runs on just one hit while striking out two in two innings of work before Starks came on in relief and gave up one run while striking out five and walking four.
“It was good to see the girls have good at-bats the entire game,” said WP/SE head coach Cyle Rigg. “Every player contributed in some way today which is really good to see.”
“Arianna pitched really well for us in the two innings she threw. It was good to give her a break and let Adriana finish the game out for us,” he added.
WP/SE returned home Tuesday afternoon and extended its winning streak to two games, also gaining a measure of revenge by defeating South Fulton 8-6 in Colchester.
The Rebels had downed the Cyclones with a walk-off 12-11 victory back on Apr. 7, but WP/SE never trailed this time around.
Tegan Rigg reached on a single and eventually came around to score on an RBI single by Kenadie Webster to grab a 1-0 first inning lead.
The Cyclones would extend their lead to 4-0 after scoring three runs in the second off of South Fulton starter Chloe Sutton.
Kenda Nelson drew a two-out walk before Addalyn Stanberry was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Ella Tippey then lined a two-run double to drive in Nelson and Stanberry.
WP/SE would add another run in the bottom of the third to make it a 5-0 score. A Maicyn Shipman double in the fourth would score Tippey, who reached on her second double and Rigg, who had walked, to extend the lead to 7-0.
South Fulton finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth against WP/SE starter Soule who had allowed no runs on only two hits through the first four innings.
Annie Kessler led off with an infield single before stealing second and Maycen Vandeventer followed with an RBI double to right to make it 7-1.
Vandeventer would come around to score a short time later on a Dixie Chenoweth infield hit to bring the Rebels to within 7-2.
Webster led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and went to third when Soule reached on a throwing error by Sutton to put runners on the corners with nobody out.
A throwing error by Chenoweth allowed Webster to score and give the Cyclones an 8-2 lead heading into the seventh.
After retiring the first two hitters in the inning, Soule ran into trouble as the Rebels put together four consecutive hits including a two-run single by Lainey Malott to cut the gap to 8-4.
SFR would get within 8-6 after a throwing error by Tippey at first, but Soule got Kessler on a ground ball to short to end the game.
Soule earned the victory by going the distance and allowing six runs (three earned) on nine hits while striking out 10.
Tippey led the Cyclones’ offense by going 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Shipman also drove in a pair of runs for WP/SE which improved to 2-8 overall.
Rigg was pleased with Soule’s performance again in light of the freshman picking up her 50th strikeout of the season earlier.
“I’m proud of her for that,” said Rigg. “She’s going to pitch to contact, but when she gets 10 (strikeouts), that’s a pretty good number.”
The WP/SE head coach was also happy to see his squad finally have some success and owed a part of it to finally having a healthy lineup.
“We moved some things around defensively,” said Rigg. “We’re at full strength for the first time since our first game. What makes us better now is that we’re deeper.”
Sutton took the loss for South Fulton after giving up eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits while striking out five.
Chenoweth led the Rebels by going 3-for-4 with a run batted in and one run scored. The loss dropped South Fulton to 1-7 for the season.
“Give South Fulton credit...they put a lot of good swings on the ball,” said Rigg.
WP/SE was scheduled to hit the road for a pair of games later this week as the Cyclones were set to face Rushville-Industry on Thursday before traveling to Fairview on Friday to face LVC,
