After requiring nine innings to win its game Friday, the Kahok softball team needed eight innings to win the first of two games Saturday.
Alex Holten singles in the seventh against Waterloo on April 5, 2014 / Photo by Roger Starkey
Collinsville (6-2) trialed Rock Falls 2-0 in the fourth before starting pitcher Addison Wickiser helped herself with a two-out RBI double to score Sarah Scrum. Wickiser was then stranded, one of nine base runners the Kahoks stranded in the game against the Rockets.
After allowing two runs in the first three innings, Wickiser held Rock Falls scoreless over the next four to allow the Kahoks to scratch their way back into the game. Collinsville Head Coach Cindy Kolda said Wickiser overcame a slow start.
“She wasn’t hitting her spots so much early in the game, but then she got in a rhythm and she started going,” Kolda said.
Kadie Ringering tied the score with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly. Following a scoreless seventh, the Rockets scored a run in the top of the eighth, but the Kahoks answered back.
Following another Ringering RBI, Wickiser hit a sacrifice fly to score the winning run. It was the second time in two games the Kahoks’ starting pitcher drove in the winning run in extra innings.
The timing was off for some Kahoks in the Rock Falls game, a problem the team could not shake during the second game Saturday – a 2 p.m. contest against Waterloo – Kolda said.
“I think it got in their heads after the first game, for a couple of them that struggled, and it carried over to the second game,” Kolda said.
Collinsville scored in double figures in four of its first six games, and did not score fewer than seven in any game. They scored seven combined runs Saturday.
The Kahoks scored three runs, stranded nine runners on base and committed five errors in the game against Waterloo.
“The whole atmosphere of the team was really down. It was just kind of a lazy attitude and it transpired on the field,” Kolda said.
Collinsville starting pitcher Sidney Bost pitched all seven innings Saturday against Waterloo. Kolda said Bost did not get much help defensively.
“Sidney Bost threw a great game. She struck out eight batters. She gave up four hits and she lost,” Kolda said. “Nobody showed up to play behind her today, and, when your bats aren’t working, that’s kind of a double-edged sword right there.”
Samantha Buettner, with three hits and an RBI, led the Kahok’s offensively. Buettner, who was on base in all four plate appearances, also reached on an error with two outs in the top of the seventh to give her team some hope.
Jessica Ledford had two hits, including a triple, and a run scored. Becky Gibbs contributed two hits and an RBI.
Collinsville is scheduled to play next at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at East St. Louis.
