Red Devils Top Anna Maria in Season Opener, 7-1
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The Eureka softball team picked up a 7-1 win over Anna Maria in the first game of the Juell Hodges coaching era on Sunday.
Senior Raelyn Payne (Lexington, Ill./Lexington) launched her first home run of the season, tallied two RBIs and scored three runs to lead the Red Devils past the AmCats in their first game of the 2022 Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic at the North Myrtle Beach Park and Sports Complex.
Fellow senior Sidney Wightman (Waterloo, Ill./Gibault Catholic) earned her first win of the season and 13th of her career, allowing just one earned run on eight hits and zero walks and striking out four batters along the way.
The Red Devils tallied seven runs on five hits while taking advantage of six Anna Maria errors.
Payne, the leadoff hitter, stole home to put Eureka on the board in the first inning after leading off with a walk and advancing to second with heads-up baserunning and moving to third on a sacrifice bunt by Tressa Grisham (Morton, Ill./East Peoria).
Anna Maria came back with a run on three hits in the bottom half to even the score, but the Red Devils responded with a three-run second inning that included an RBI groundout by Elly Maier (Clinton, Ill./Clinton) and Payne's bomb to left field.
Eureka tacked on two more with four hits and another Anna Maria error in the third inning. Bria Wessel (Peoria, Ill./Limestone) drove in Delaney Douglas (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) with an RBI single, and two batters later, Kate LeMasters (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) scored an unearned run on a dropped fly-ball.
The Red Devils' last run of the game came an inning later, when Payne took advantage of a dropped third strike to make it 7-1.
Douglas, LeMasters, Wessel and Wightman all recorded base hits, and Wessel, Christine Mepham (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) and Maier each drove in a run. Grisham and Mepham both had sac bunts, while Wessel and Payne each drew walks on the day.
Game 2: Lynchburg 11, Eureka 1
The Red Devils dropped an 11-1 contest against Lynchburg in five innings in the second game of the day.
Lynchburg pitcher Bre Carter limited the maroon and gold to one run on four hits in four innings.
Payne had another strong game, going 2-for-3 and scoring the team's only run after leading off the first inning with a double. She advanced to third on a sac bunt by Grisham, then scored on an RBI single by freshman Mackenzie Daniels (Monticello, Ill./Monticello).
Wessel also contributed a hit in the fourth inning.
Lynchburg led 2-1 after the first inning, but the Hornets took control of the contest with a six-run rally on eight hits in the second inning. They chased Wightman from the circle after 1 1/3 innings. Freshman Bri Tanksley (Spring Bay, Ill./Metamora) came on in relief to make her collegiate pitching debut.
The Hornets finished with 15 hits on the day.
Up Next
Eureka (1-1) will turn around and face Penn State-Harrisburg (1-1) on Monday at 2:30 p.m., followed by Centenary (0-3) at 4:30 p.m.