It was all too familiar of a story.
Good pitching, but not enough hitting.
That has been the scenario too often during the second half of the spring season for the Effingham Flaming Hearts baseball team.
And it was certainly the case Thursday afternoon.
Jackson Lee pitched a terrific game, but received no support. Lee gave up only one run, but that came in the bottom of the seventh inning and resulted in a 1-0 victory for Mattoon in an opening round game of the Class 3A Regional C.
It was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel the entire game. Lee and Mattoon ace Meade Johnson matched each other pitch for pitch.
But in the seventh, Jason Skocy drew a one-out walk for the Green Wave. That brought in Johnson, who ripped the first pitch he saw into the gap and Skocy raced around the bases and scored on the game-winning, walk-off double.
It ended a season that started out very promising. The Hearts combined good pitching with an offense that was scoring nearly nine runs a game and raced out to a 9-0 start. But even though the pitching stayed pretty strong the remainder of the season, the bats went cold.
As a result, EHS went 2-12 from that point and finished the season 11-12. In those 12 losses, the Hearts were shut out five times and scored three or fewer runs in four other games. They scored just 31 runs in those 12 losses and 13 of those came in one game.
Effingham had just two hits and five baserunners against Johnson, who went all seven innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out 11 in his 77-pitch performance.
The Hearts best scoring opportunity came in the second. Max Hardiek led off with a base hit and Dylan Cunningham and Joe Matteson both reached on errors to load the bases with no outs. But Johnson struck out the next three batters to end the threat.
Effingham had just two baserunners the final five innings. Preston Latch was hit by a pitch in the fifth and Jack Blickem had a lead-off single in the sixth.
Lee allowed only five hits and the one run. He walked three and struck out five while throwing 89 pitches.
Mattoon will now play for the regional championship. The Green Wave will face either Olney or top-seeded Troy Triad at 4:30 p.m. Monday.