The West Prairie/Southeastern softball team saw its season come to a close Monday as Galva downed the Cyclones 6-1 in the opening round of the Illinois High School Association Class 1A Regional at Galva.
With the loss, WP/SE finished the year with a 2-21 record.
Galva handed the Cyclones a 4-2 defeat in eight innings two weeks ago in Colchester, but the Wildcats jumped out to an early lead this time around and were never seriously threatened.
WP/SE was held to only three hits in the contest and committed eight errors.
Galva scored twice in the bottom of the first against WP/SE starter Arianna Soule to grab a 2-0 lead.
Kinsley Gale led off with a single but was caught trying to steal second on a perfect throw by WP/SE catcher Morgan Simmons.
Allison Bussell followed with a double to center and Arabella Porsche singled her to third with only one out.
Soule got Kaylyn Gale to pop out to Tegan Rigg at third for the second out before a Jovie Weber ground ball was mishandled by Addalyn Stanberry at short to allow Bussell to score for a 1-0 lead.
A throwing error by Simmons allowed Porsche to score a short time later and give the Wildcats a 2-0 advantage.
The hosts would make it 4-0 in the bottom of the second after putting together a two-out rally.
With the bases loaded, Porsche lined an RBI-single to center and Sara Shelton threw out Bussell going to third but not before Gale crossed the plate for the second run of the inning.
The Cyclones’ defense fell apart in the bottom of the third as Galva would score twice thanks in part to three WP/SE errors in the inning to up its lead to 6-0.
The Cyclones finally got their only hits in the game off of Galva starter Amber Plummer in the top of the fifth.
Stanberry led off with a single but was eventually thrown out trying to steal second.
Senior Adriana Starks, playing in her final game, followed with a double to left and Soule helped her own cause with an RBI-single to right to make it a 6-1 score.
That would be as close as WP/SE would get as the eighth-seeded Wildcats advanced to the next round of the regional.
Soule took the loss after going six innings and giving up six runs (two earned) on 10 hits while striking out four and walking one.
Rigg and senior Kenadie Webster, who both led the Cyclones in hitting this season, were held hitless by Plummer who earned the victory after giving only one run on three hits while striking out 12 and walking one.
Gale led Galva by going 3-for-4 with a run scored while Porsche went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Karsyn Clayes also finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a run batted in for the Wildcats.
“I was hoping for a different outcome after the first time we played them,” said WP/SE head coach Cyle Rigg. “(Plummer) was very solid and had good velocity. Our girls had a hard time catching up to her.”
“Ari (Soule) was pretty solid, but they put the bat on the ball quite a bit,” Rigg continued. “They found a lot of holes, but we did not help out the situation at all.”
