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Brynna Anderson’s homer sparks Henry in regional semifinal win over Putnam County · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Brenna Anderson's homer sparks Henry in regional semifinal win over
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  Putnam County. Written by Kevin Schlum, this article is being
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  read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  The Henry Senequaine softball team couldn't get much going early
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  against Putnam County pitcher Kennedy Hollocker. The Mallyards managed just
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  one hit through the first three innings, and when they
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  had runners on second and third in the first inning,
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  Henry stranded them. Junior Brenna Anderson sparked Henry in the fourth,
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  with the Mallards trailing by a run, Anderson launched a
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  solo home run to center field to start the inning.
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  I had two strikes on me, so I started to
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  crowd the plate because I thought she'd pull me outside.
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  Anderson said it was a little outside, but I got
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  a hold of it. It felt good to pick my
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  team up and get some energy started for us. When
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  exciting plays happened, I think it brings the whole team up.
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  One good thing happens, and then everything kind of follows.
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  It did for number two seeded Henry as it scored
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  once more in the fourth and added two more runs
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  in the fifth to go on to a four to
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  one win over the number seven Panthers in a Class
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  one A Henry Senequin Regional semifinal in Henry. I think
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  we played well, Anderson said. We had a little slow start.
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  You get a little nervous when you're down one, but
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  I had confidence that we would come back and get
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  our hits going. The Mallards fourteen ten advanced to the
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  championship game at five pm Friday against the winner of
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  Thursday's semifinal between number three Midland fifteen fourteen and number
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  six Amboy ten ten. Henry beat Midland nine to one
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  and ten four in Tri County Conference play. The Mallards
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  are looking to win three regional titles in a row
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  for the first time in program history. It would make
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  softball the first program in school history to win three
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  regional plaques in a row. According to the ISA website.
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  I hope to come out with a win and get
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  three regionals in a row, Henry senior Rachel Eckert said,
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  that'd be pretty cool and make history. It's special to
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  play the regional at home, especially for my senior year.
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  Eckert made sure the Mallards had time to get the
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  offense going as she held the Putnam County bats in check.
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  The Panthers scored in the top of the first when
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  Alexis Margus doubled, moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt,
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  and scored on a pass ball. After that, Eckert limited
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  the Panthers to just two hits and three base runners
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  over the final six innings. She has just gotten stronger
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  and stronger as we've gone on in the last two weeks.
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  Even Henry coach Lori Stenstrom said, I thought she threw
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  extremely well. She hit her spots, had good spin, and
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  got the job done. Eckert got stronger as the game
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  went on, throwing four perfect innings to finish the game.
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  Eckert finished with twelve strikeouts and did not walk a batter.
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  I just want it really bad, said about getting stronger
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  as the game progressed. Being my senior year, I don't
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  want the season to end. Eckert's pitching allowed the Henry
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  bats to get going. After Anderson's homer, Addie Robbins had
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  a slow roller single, Eckert laid down a sack bunt,
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  and Harper Schrock ripped a hard Grounder through the left
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  side for an RBI single. In the fifth, Elena Sprague
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  doubled and Brooklyn Thompson reached on a fielder's choice before
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  a deep fly ball by Anderson with two outs was
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  misplayed in center field, allowing both to score. I thought
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  we played really well offensively, Stenstrom said. Our timing was
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  just off. I think in the beginning it took us
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  once through the order to get going. We just seemed
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  a little anxious kind of hitting out front a little bit.
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  Britta's homer got everybody excited. Once somebody does something good,
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  then others follow it kind of gets the ball rolling.
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  Margus had two of Putnam County's three hits, with Ella
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  Irwin also singling. Hall Locker took the loss in the
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  circle as she got gave up four runs, two earned
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  on six hits, with five strikeouts and two walks. I
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  thought we played well. PC coach Adriana Rolando said this
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  was our third time seeing them. All I asked them
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  to do is show up a little better every single
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  time and fight to the last inning, and that's what
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  I saw. I thought we put quite a few good
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  balls in play that they just made a little bit
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  better of a play on the Panthers finish eleven eighteen
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  PC graduates. Ellapisca, Ella, Irwin, and Sydney samek but returned
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  the other seven starters from Wednesday's game. I thought from
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  the beginning of the year until now, we've grown immensely,
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  Rolando said, we had to kind of do a reset
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  in the middle of the year. It just wasn't quite
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  going our way. The girls came together and we did
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  some self evaluation. Since then, it's been so much fun
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  and they've just come out and competed for each other.
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  It's exciting looking to the future. The young girls don't
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  get a chance to come here and watch the game.
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  They get thrown in to the deep end and you
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  hope they swim, and they did. Some of our younger
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  ones came up big for us in big games, and
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  that's exciting to see because they're gonna get to do
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  that a couple more years. It takes the pressure off
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  of them a little bit. The next time they come back,
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  they won't be young, it won't be new, and it'll
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  be a little more fun for them.