PHS Softball Girls Capture Regional Title
Congratulations
Lady Indians, Coaches Jim Salzeider, Becky Galloway & Donna
Smargiassi
on
an OUTSTANDING Season
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PAWNEE — The bottom of the Pawnee High School Indians lineup came through, led by
Amanda Simpson in a 4-2 victory over
the Edinburg Wildcats in Saturday’s Class 1A Pawnee Regional
softball final.
The Indians advance to the Morrisonville Sectional semifinals at
4:30 p.m. Thursday against Carrollton, which beat Hardin Calhoun
3-1 Saturday to win the Carrollton Regional.
With Pawnee trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning,
ninth-place hitter Simpson led off with a walk from Edinburg
freshman pitcher Jenny Green. Simpson moved to second on a
near-perfect bunt down the third-base line from Jori Gleich, who
beat out the throw for an infield single.
Courtney Dennis moved Simpson to third on a fielder’s choice, and
she scored on a wild pitch to Megan Fleigle, cutting the Wildcats’
lead in half.
“I try to tell the girls to never give up,” Pawnee coach Jim
Salzeider said. “You got to keep putting the ball in play hard and
keep working hard and good things happen.”
Edinburg threatened in the top of the fourth but couldn’t
score.
Nikki Lael drew a leadoff walk from Chelsey Schmittler (12-4),
moved to second on a bunt single from Amy Pope and went to third on
a groundout by Alyshia Rightnowar. However, after Lael stepped on
third, she turned and took a few steps toward home and was thrown
out by first baseman Simpson. Gleich applied the tag on Lael’s
return slide.
In the bottom of the fourth, Simpson came through with a two-out,
two-RBI triple to right center, scoring Maggie Birks and Payge
Bowen to give Pawnee a 3-2 lead.
“I’ve been struggling all year and I think it was finally time for
me to get a hit,” Simpson said. “She (Green) had been working me
outside all day, and those are usually the pitches that I like. I
stepped into it and hit it.”
Gleich drove home Simpson with a single for the final run.
Simpson said she prefers not to hit from the ninth spot in the
lineup, but she added she knows she has a job to do no matter where
she hits.
“I don’t like being last batter, but if that’s where coach puts me,
that’s where he puts me,” Simpson said. “It doesn’t matter where I
am on the list; I just have to get the job done.”
In the final three innings, Schmittler didn’t allow a runner past
first and faced just 10 batters, throwing 1-2-3 innings in the
sixth and seventh.
“We won a thriller (1-0 in nine innings over Morrisonville) on
Tuesday,” Edinburg coach Ken Jones said. “That confidence was how
we started the game. We thought we could do something and we did
start out (well); things went our way in the first inning and
during a good part of the game.
“There was only a few times Pawnee was able to put hits together,
and that’s why they won. They’re a great ball team.”
Schmittler — who gave up one earned run on five hits and two walks
— struck out two in the sixth and fielded two ground balls in the
seventh for the win. She finished with seven strikeouts.
“Chelsey has pitched well all year long,” Salzeider said. “We
haven’t pitched her as much as we have in the past, and I think
it’s helped. She’s not a big strikeout pitcher, but she just hits
her spots and we field it behind her.”
Green also allowed only five hits and walked just one. She struck
out two and was charged with all four runs
Crain Lifts Indians to Sectional Final
Pawnee's Class of 2009 includes 5 Illinois State Scholars
PAWNEE — Though the 2009 graduating class of Pawnee High School is small, there’s no shortage of talent, Principal Judy Wilson says.
Of the 35 students, five were named Illinois State Scholars.
“That’s very good,” Wilson said Friday afternoon. “They’ve had a
lot of accomplishments in a variety of areas, like drama, music,
art, athletics, academics, you name it.”
Among those accomplishments was the girl’s softball team advancing to the sectional championship after winning its 30th game this season on Friday.
“Usually we’re trying to get 20 wins by this time, but we were ahead this year, and we’re 30 and 5 now,” team member and graduate Courtney Dennis said.
The graduating softball players had plenty of time to make it to Friday’s 7 p.m. graduation ceremony at Pawnee High School.
This year’s graduates also included a student who’s accomplished another significant achievement — becoming a U.S. citizen.
Will Cohen and his parents, Schalk and Arina, all originally from Cape Town, South Africa, took the citizenship oath in February.
— Amanda Reavy
PHS Earns Share of MSM Softball Tilte
