Lilly Higgins drove in six runs and hit a pair of home runs to power Biggsville West Central to a 17-0 five-inning non-conference victory over West Prairie/Southeastern Tuesday in Colchester.
The Heat (11-2-1) entered the game ranked 13th in Class 1A in the latest Illinois Coaches Association poll. But the Cyclones remained close until the last two innings when West Central pushed across 12 runs to extend a 5-0 lead out to the final score.
WP/SE freshman starter Arianna Soule retired the first batter she faced before plunking Linny Corzatt with a pitch and allowing a single to Heat starter Miley Stimpson.
Soule retired Lauren Winters on a fly ball to Sara Shelton in center and appeared as if she would get out of the inning. That brought up Higgins who fouled off several pitches before hitting a deep fly ball to left and the wind helped it just enough to get over the fence and give West Central a 3-0 lead.
Soule then gave up a single to Kaylee Mills before striking out Rylie Ferguson to retire the side.
WP/SE went down in order against Stimpson in the bottom of the first, but Soule retired the Heat in order in the top of the second to keep it 3-0.
Adriana Starks led off the bottom of the second with a base hit but the Cyclones could not capitalize.
Soule struck out Corzatt to lead off the third before Stimpson lifted a fly ball in the wind to Shelton in center who had the ball pop out of her glove after a long run to allow Stimpson to reach.
Winters flew out to Shelton for the second out but Higgins launched her second home run of the game over the left field fence to give the Heat a 5-0 lead.
Stimpson struck out the side in the bottom of the third and West Central put together a two-out rally to score four runs in the top of the fourth and extend the advantage to 9-0.
Mills had the big hit during the uprising with a two-run single - her third hit of the contest.
Tegan Rigg reached in the bottom of the fourth on a oneout single, but WP/SE could not score against Corzatt who came on in relief of Stimpson to start the inning.
The Heat put the game away in the top of the fifth by scoring eight runs and sending 11 batters to the plate.
Soule began to tire and walked four and hit a batter in the inning and the Heat took advantage as Winters, Higgins and Delaney Endress each had two-run doubles in the inning.
Ferguson came on in the bottom of the fifth in relief of Corzatt and gave up a pair of walks, but WP/SE could not capitalize as the Cyclones fell to 2-10 for the season.
Higgins went 3-for-3 to pace the Heat 12-hit attack while Mills finished 3-for-3 with two runs batted it.
“I told the girls that was a really good ballclub,” said WP/ SE head coach Cyle Rigg.
“They’ve played some big 2A and 3A schools. They’re pretty solid. (Offensively) our girls had the right mindset and were attacking but just weren’t early enough.”
“I thought (Soule) did a great job battling,” Rigg continued. “That’s a tough lineup to pitch to. At the end, you could tell she was falling behind hitters early in the counts and that was catching up to her a little bit.”
WP/SE is scheduled to host Beardstown (12-1) Thursday in a non-conference matchup at Friendway Park.
