The Collinsville High School’ softball team’s suddenly feast or famine offensive was both in the same day Friday in a doubleheader loss at Centralia.
Photo by Sherry Holten
Collinsville Head Coach Cindy Kolda said the team hits together and goes into slumps together. Friday proved her correct. The Kahoks (9-6) managed only two runs in a 5-2 first-game loss to the Orphan Annies, and were outslugged 15-14 in the second game.
Caitlyn Brombolich returned to the mound in game one after an 18-day injury absence. The sophomore pitched four innings, allowing five runs – three earned. Kolda said Brombolich pitched well, before tiring after the long layoff.
Brombolich also managed a hit in her only plate appearance. “She hadn’t seen a pitch in 18 days and got a hit on her first at bat,” Kolda said. “It was good to get her bat back. That was a positive.”
Kassidy Smith put the Kahoks on the board with a home run in the fourth inning. It was the first of two Smith big flies on the day. She now has six on the year.
The second game did not look promising for the Kahok fans that made the trip to Centralia, with the Orphan Annies scoring runs as fast as Daddy Warbucks spent money. Centralia led Collinsville 9-1 after two innings.
After tacking on a run in the third on an RBI single by Samantha Buettner, the Collinsville offense got untracked in the fourth inning when they pushed across four runs. Smith, Sarah Scrum and Alex Holten had RBIs in the inning. Becky Gibbs, Jessica Ledford, Emily Lautz – pinch running for Smith – and Scrum scored in the inning.
But the Orphan Annies showed the gumption of their namesake, answering back with four runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth, to push their lead to 13-6.
Brombolich, Paige Giacoletto and Gibbs scored fifth inning runs on RBI singles from Gibbs and Smith, and an RBI sacrifice fly from Scrum. After going meekly in the top of the sixth, Collinsville made a valiant seventh inning comeback.
With one out and no one on base, Ledford reached on an error and scored on a Smith bomb. The home run was Smith’s fourth hit of the game and gave her four RBIs for the contest.
Scrum followed with a single and Buettner a double, before Holten connected for an RBI sacrifice fly and Bost an RBI single. Giacoletto’s RBI double was the third consecutive two-out hit for the Kahoks, and gave them an improbable 14-13 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh.
Centralia once again answered a Kahok big inning with a big inning of its own. The Orphan Annies scored two runs on four hits to get the walk-off win.
Collinsville’s defense committed five errors in the second game and made many other miscues that were bad defensive plays, but could not be counted as errors, Kolda said.
“The bats can only do so much,” Kolda said.
Gibbs, Smith, Scrum, Buettner, Brombolich and Giacoletto all had multi-hit games for Collinsville. Smith and Giacoletto tallied four hits each.
The Kahoks will attempt to end a three-game losing streak when they host the Edwardsville Tigers at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Collinsville Jaycee Sports Complex.
