The Effingham Lady Hearts blasted five home runs, including back-to-back-to-back shots, en route to an 11-1, five-inning victory in the second game and the sweep of a doubleheader Thursday afternoon at home against Charleston.
Effingham also won the opener, 12-5, to improve to 6-2 in the Apollo Conference.
The Lady Hearts had their hitting shoes on all day. They pounded out 33 hits and scored 23 runs in the twin-bill.
Ryley Engel and Mya Harvey both belted a pair of solo homers and Natalie Armstrong added a two-run shot in the nightcap.
And the long ball display started in the opening inning.
Raegan Boone singled, stole second and third and scored on a ground out. Sidney Donaldson then singled and scored when Armstrong connected with a pitch and sent it sailing over the centerfield fence. Harvey and Engel then made it three straight four-baggers that staked EHS to a 5-0 lead.
Engel added a solo blast in the third and Harvey belted her second round-tripper in the fourth.
Harvey and Engel paced the 14-hit attack with three hits apiece, while Donaldson and Alyssa Martin both had a pair.
Saige Althoff went all five innings to get the win. She allowed four hits and one run, while walking two and striking out a pair.
An eight-run second inning made the difference in the first game. The Lady Hearts and Lady Trojans were tied 3-3 when the hosts came to bat.
Effingham banged out seven straight hits, finished with 10 in the inning and pushed across eight runs to build an 11-3 lead.
Boone led the 19-hit attack with four hits and Engel, who had six hits total in the doubleheader, added three more, while Jerzi Bierman, Donaldson, Armstrong, Martin and Bria Beals all had a pair.
Armstrong pitched all seven innings to get the win. She allowed seven hits and five runs, while walking two and striking out five.
The Lady Hearts, now 13-6 overall, will play Saturday in the Robinson Invitational.
The Effingham Lady Hearts continued their hot streak with a convincing 12-0 victory Saturday at Carbondale.
Natalie Armstrong scattered four hits and Mya Harvey and Jerzi Bierman combined for seven hits and seven RBI, as the Lady Hearts notched a ninth win in their last 10 games.
EHS took a 1-0 lead in the opening inning and then started to gain control in the third. Raegan Boone doubled, Bierman walked and both stole a base. Sidney Donaldson’s sacrifice fly brought in one run. After Armstrong reached base on a dropped third strike, Harvey delivered a two-run double and the fourth run scored on a ground out by Ryley Engel.
Harvey doubled again and drove home a run in Effingham’s three-run fifth. Bierman then drove home a pair and Harvey added an RBI single in a four-run sixth.
Armstrong went all six innings. She allowed only four hits. She walked just one and struck out four.
The Lady Hearts, now 11-5, will play at home Tuesday against Altamont.
Sophia Feld hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning and that proved to be the deciding factor of the game, as Chatham Glenwood posted a 5-2 win at home Monday over the Effingham Lady Hearts.
The game was tied 1-1, but with two-on and two-out, Feld lofted a pitch over the leftfield fence to put the hosts on top to stay.
The Lady Hearts had single tallies in the first and seventh innings.
In the opening inning, Raegan Boone singled, stole second and scored on a base hit by Sidney Donaldson.
In the seventh, Ryley Engel had a lead-off single and eventually scored on a ground out by Bria Beals.
Natalie Armstrong pitched a strong game but took the loss. She allowed four hits and only two earned runs, while walking two and striking out three.
The Lady Hearts, now 9-5, will play Thursday at Edwardsville.
The Effingham Lady Hearts only scored in one inning Thursday afternoon, but that was more than enough for Saige Althoff.
The junior righthander allowed just five baserunners and none of them crossed the plate. And when the Lady Hearts pushed across three runs in the sixth inning, that proved to be decisive, as Effingham finished with a 3-0 victory at Edwardsville.
Althoff gave up two walks and singles in the third, fifth and seventh in her seven-inning performance. She also struck out eight.
The game was scoreless when EHS came to bat in the top of the sixth. Up to that point, the Lady Hearts had just one hit – a first-inning single by Jerzi Bierman.
But that changed in the sixth. Alyssa Martin, Raegan Boone and Bierman all singled to load the bases with no outs. Sidney Donaldson and Natalie Armstrong then delivered RBI singles and Mya Harvey had a sacrifice fly to put the Lady Hearts on top and provide all the support Althoff needed.
Effingham has now won 7 of its last 8 games and improved to 10-5 on the season. The Lady Hearts will return home Monday to play Teutopolis.
20 runs + 29 hits = doubleheader sweep.
That’s what the Effingham Lady Hearts did Saturday at Mattoon.
They had 14 hits in the opener, en route to a 9-1 win. EHS followed that up with a 15-hit attack and an 11-8 win to complete the sweep.
In the first game, while her teammates were providing plenty of support at the plate, Natalie Armstrong was keeping the Mattoon bats in check. She allowed nine hits, but just one run. Armstrong walked two and struck out four in her seven-inning performance.
Sidney Donaldson went 3-for-4 and Ryley Engel and Bria Beals both had two hits and a pair of RBI.
The Lady Hearts got off to a quick start, scoring in the first two innings. Armstrong and Mya Harvey both had run-scoring singles in the first and Raegan Boone drove home a tally in the second to make it 3-0.
The Lady Hearts scored two more in the fourth, another in the fifth and wrapped it up with a three-run seventh.
There was even more offense in the second game.
The Green Wave held a 5-4 lead after two innings. But EHS then put together a six-run third to take the lead for good.
Harvey led off with a base hit, Saige Althoff walked and Engel singled to bring home the tying run. With one out, Alyssa Martin dropped a single into centerfield to bring home another run and Boone followed with a two-run single. Before the inning was over, Harvey added another RBI single and the sixth run scored on an error.
Donaldson had another three-hit game and drove him three, while Boone and Engel also had three hits.
Althoff got the win. She went all seven innings, allowing 11 hits and eight runs – just four earned. She walked five and struck out five.
The Lady Hearts improved to 9-4 overall and 4-2 in the Apollo Conference. They will return to action Monday at Glenwood.
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