High School Girls Softball Regionals
Railers come from behind and defeat Morton 7-6

 

[May 23, 2024] 

The Railers softball team found themselves down 6-3 to the Morton Lady Potters on Wednesday afternoon in the Class 3A Regional in Bloomington but late in the game the ladies from Lincoln rallied and won the game 7-6.

In the top of the first inning, Lincoln scored a run when Taryn Stoltzenburg opened the game with a single. The new season stolen base leader for Lincoln, who recently broke her own record of 39 stolen bases from last season, Stoltzenburg added two more to her resume when she swiped second and third. She scored the Railers first run on a single to right by Grey Gilbert.

The Lady Potters tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI double.

Lincoln took a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning. Stoltzenburg singled to start the inning and, of course, she stole second again. Stoltzenburg scored on a single to right by Regan Kutz. Kutz took second on the throw back in and given a few more minutes, she would steal third. Next Kelsey Marten’s hard hit grounder to short could not be handled cleanly, and Kutz scored on the error.

The Lady Potters claimed a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the third inning and then plated two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 6-3 lead.

Marten singled in the top of the fifth inning and after a walk to Madisen Wurth and a successful sacrifice bunt by Faith Eckhardt, the courtesy runner, Lily Holmes, found herself at third base and ready to fly home at any given moment. Holmes did not have to wait too long before Morgan Sheley singled on a line drive to the pitcher and Lincoln was determined to chip away at the lead.

Lincoln’s top of the sixth inning was huge. A lead-off walk to Emma Hutchison and Stoltzenburg reaching on an error immediately after that was just the beginning of good things to come. Gilbert was hit by a pitch shortly afterwards and the Railers had the bases full with nobody out. Kutz drove home Hutchison on the sacrifice fly and Lincoln was in the midst of a big rally. Next up it was Marten with the ground out but Stoltzenburg was able to race home, scoring the tying run. With two outs, Wurth walked with Gilbert stuck on third. A handful of pitches later, Gilbert scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Eckhardt would strike out looking to end the inning, but Lincoln was on top 7-6 and that’s all that mattered.

Morton started the bottom of the sixth inning with a single and a walk and after a groundout, the Lady Potters had runners on second and third. The pitcher’s best friend would end the inning as the Lady Potters flew out and were doubled off at third. Exhale. Lincoln needed just three more outs.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Wurth quickly induced a ground out and got a strikeout. After a walk, the game ended on a ground out to third and Lincoln hung on to win the first game of regionals 7-6.

Lincoln had nine hits in the game with Taryn Stoltzenburg leading the way at the top of the lineup with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate. She did her job efficiently with three runs scored and three stolen bases. The new season record holder currently has 45 stolen bases.

Grey Gilbert, Regan Kutz, Kelsey Marten, Faith Eckhardt, Morgan Sheley, Kate Farnam and Emma Hutchison each had one hit.

Head coach LeeAnn Gilbert was proud of the total team effort it took to win and after the game she offered her thoughts.

“It was another complete team win,” said Gilbert. “We’re not a one man show. It takes our entire team to grind out a win like that against a quality opponent. We never backed down and we were never mentally out of that game. We put our noses down and kept at it, inning by inning. I am so proud of the girls!”

What an exciting win for the Railers!

In the circle Madisen Wurth earned the win for Lincoln. She worked five and two-thirds innings, allowing four hits and four runs. Only three runs were earned. She walked four and struck out five.

Regan Kutz pitched one and one-third innings in middle relief. She allowed three hits and two earned runs. She walked two.

Lincoln will play Washington Friday at 4:00 p.m. at Bloomington High School for the regional championship.

The Railers are now 15-21 on the season.

To catch up on a few recent wins that got the ladies to this point, here is a list:

5-7-24
Lincoln 13
Decatur MacArthur 1

5-10-24
Champaign Central 2
Lincoln 4

5-13-24
Bloomington 6
Lincoln 7

5-17-24
Springfield 0
Lincoln 1

Here is a look at some of the batting stats throughout the 36 games so far:

Taryn Stoltzenburg leads the team with 50 hits and a .424 batting average. Her OPS is .933 and she has scored a team-leading 44 runs.

Regan Kutz is second in batting with a .362 average and she has an OPS of .978 while leading the team with 37 RBIs. Kutz has a second-best three home runs this season.

Kelsey Marten is a slugger from the no. 3 spot. Marten leads the team with four home runs and eight doubles. Marten is batting .317 and her OPS is .927 and her 26 RBIs is second-best on the team.

Grey Gilbert ranks solid as a freshman with a .307 average and an OPS of .816 while scoring 33 runs and driving in 24 runs.

Faith Eckhardt has one home run on the season and she is batting .273 while driving in 20 runs. She leads the team with six hit by pitches.

Madisen Wurth is batting .233 and she has slugged six doubles this season.

Morgan Sheley is batting .217 with 18 singles and 17 runs scored for Lincoln.

A solid 15-win season for a young team led by just one senior and one junior!

[Teena Lowery]