The Lady Hearts got on the board in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Grace Bushur singled, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored when Riley Cunningham blooped a single into short rightfield.
But T-Town came right back with a five-run fourth. Three of the runs scored on errors, plus the Lady Shoes got RBI singles from Konkel and Gibson.
It was 16-1 when EHS came to bat in the bottom of the fifth.
Jerzi Bierman, batting for the first time, smacked a home run that seemed to provide an offensive spark for the Lady Hearts, who had only four hits until that at-bat. Sawyer Althoff then doubled and scored after two wild pitches. Daelyn Dunston walked, went to second on another wild pitch and scored when Bushur lined her third hit of the game, a triple into right-centerfield.
Bushur eventually scored on yet another wild pitch. Effingham scored its final run of the frame on an RBI single by Tori Budde, but since the margin was still 10 runs, the game ended.
The Lady Shoes finished with 13 hits. Konkel had four of those and Gibson added three more. Gibson also had three RBI, while Konkel and Sarchet both drove in a pair. In addition to Bushur’s three hits, Sidney Donaldson had a pair of hits for EHS.
Gibson pitched all five innings to get the win. She allowed eight hits and six runs, while walking two and striking out two. Saige Althoff worked the first three innings for the Lady Hearts and took the loss. She allowed 10 runs on eight hits. She also walked four. Riley Cunningham pitched the final two innings.
Effingham dipped to 7-8 on the season. The Lady Hearts will play at home again today (Tuesday) against Altamont.
The Lady Shoes improved to 13-3. They will also be back in action today (Tuesday), returning home to play Marshall.
“I don’t get into setting expectations for a team,” Tipton said. “We’re playing really well and hope to keep it going. There are still things we need to work on defensively and we hope to continue hitting the ball. Being 13-3 is not bad, but we have to keep getting better.”
