West Central ousts West Prairie, awaits regional title game

STRONGHURST, Ill. — Maybe it just takes a lousy practice before an important game.

It seemed to work for West Central High School's softball team, which ousted West Prairie, 11-0, in the Illinois Class 1A regional tournament semifinals at Stan Fisher Field Tuesday.

"Honestly, (Monday) we probably had one of our worst practices of the year," West Central head coach Scott Swiler said. "It was an eye-opener. We needed to step up and we did a good job today.

"We're in a good position of where we want to be," Swiler said. "West Central has never won a regional championship at home. It's one of these things for these kids if we can control each pitch it's in our own hands."

West Central (25-6) will play the winner of Wednesday's game between North Fulton (10-11) and Monmouth United (6-13) for the regional championship. If United wins the semifinal, the championship game will be at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Stronghurst. If North Fulton wins, the title game will be at 11 a.m. Saturday. North Fulton has a Friday conflict with commencement.

The Heat took advantage of West Prairie's misfortunes in the first inning, scoring five unearned runs on just one hit, three walks and five Little Cyclone errors. The Heat's hit was a two-run triple down the first base line by Ashley Meyer.

The Heat added four more runs in the second on four hits and four walks.

West Central freshman pitcher Addie Seitz fired a one-hit shutout, walking one and striking out 11 in five innings. West Prairie's Belle Petty spoiled the no-hit bid with a bloop single to lead off the second. She struck out the side in the fifth inning to end the game.

"Compared to the last four games she's pitched, she was more consistent," Swiler said. "Her speed was brought back up. Her location was good. Sometimes those games are easy to be distracted a little bit and lose mechanics, but she did a good job finishing every pitch."

"I normally keep the walks down to a minimum so I'm glad I could do it again today," Seitz said. She indicated her best pitch Tuesday was "probably my outside fastball."

"One thing we've talked about with her is just going out there and pitch," Swiler said. "If a batter hits her best pitch, just move on."

Addie Seitz was also the game's top hitter with three singles in four trips to the plate. She scored twice and drove in a run. Meyer had three RBIs and Shelby Bowman had two.

The Heat's Brynna Seitz stole two bases and Sam Meyer, Addie Seitz, Bailey Ryan and Ashley Meyer each stole one.

"We were just focused on controlling each pitch and just do our own thing," Swiler said. "Sometimes when we let down just a hair to stay in the ball game, instead of a 10-0 ball game it might be a 6-2. So I though we did a good job keeping the gas pedal pressed down."

CLASS 2A

ROCKRIDGE 6, MERCER COUNTY 4: The Rockets scored the winning run in the fifth inning and ousted Mercer County in the Class 2A regional semifinals at Taylor Ridge, Illinois.

Kaylee Gray led Mercer County at the plate with two doubles and three RBIs in three appearances.

1A

at Stronghurst, Illinois

WPrairie. 000. 00 — 0

WCentral. 541. 1x — 11

WP — Addie Seitz. LP — Tegan Cobb. Leading hitters — West Prairie: Belle Petty 1-2. West Central: Addie Seitz 3-4, Brynna Seitz 1-2, Kenzy Ludington 1-2, Shelby Bowman 1-2, Ashley Meyer 1-2. 2B -- A Seitz. 3B — Meyer. RBI — West Central: A Seitz, Ludington, Bowman 2, Bailey Ryan, Meyer 3 .

Records: West Prairie 4-10; West Central 25-6.

2A at Taylor Ridge, Illinois

MercerCty. 100. 102. 0 — 4

Rockridge. 400. 020. x — 6

WP — Kendra Lewis. LP — Hallie Scheurs. Leading hitters — Mercer County: Kaylee Gray 2-3, Gabriella McPeek 1-4, Madi Frieden 1-4, Schreurs 1-3. Rockridge: Lewis 2-3, Bailah Bognar 2-3, Keaton Frere 2-3, Payton Brown 1-3, Lexi Hines 1-3, Kori Needham 1-3. 2B — Gray 2, Schreurs, Lewis 2, Needham, Brown. HR — Hines. RBI — Mercer County: Gray 3; Rockridge: Lewis, Hines 2, Needham, Bognar, Frere.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: West Central softball team wins Class 1A regional semifinal