Lady Pirates' big second inning leads to district title

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To some degree, last year’s district championship still weighed heavily on the mind of Perryville softball coach Dustin Wengert. That was clearly evident as he yelled to his team as they went out to the field for the final half inning that his team still needed three more outs despite a sizable lead.
“It certainly wasn’t over at that point,” Wengert said. “We were here last year and watched it slip away.”
Perryville left no doubt this season.
The Pirates scored five runs in the second inning and rode that momentum to a 9-1 victory over Lutheran South in the Class 3, District 1 championship game on Thursday in the Perryville City Park.
The title is the second for the program in the last three seasons.
“In this year of flux we’ve been shut down and thought we might not play again this season. About the only consistent thing we have had has been softball,” Wengert said. “The girls have played hard all year and deserved every bit of success they’ve had.”
Perryville (18-5) had five players, Brittanie Stewart, Brooke Huber, Ann-Marie Simpson, Anna Korando, and Katie Roberts. chip in with two hits apiece. Roberts accounted for three RBI, while Huber drove in two runs.
The Pirates broke the game open in the second inning, when Stewart hit the first of two triples to start the inning. Korando drove in Stewart for the first run of the game with a single.
The Pirates loaded the bases later in the inning and Makayla Pecaut walked forcing in a run, which gave Perryville a 2-0 lead.

A few batters later, Roberts doubled to the wall, scoring two more runs, and Huber drove in the final run of the inning with a sacrifice fly.
“We hit so well situationally, with trying to move runners over and stuff like that is perfect softball,” Wengert said. “We can also outslug teams at times, which we did tonight to some extent. We can play multiple styles.”
That versatility showed in the fourth when Simpson bunted to reach first, then she moved up on a passed ball.
Roberts then moved her to third with a ground ball out. Huber walked, and with two outs Stewart again tripled, giving Perryville a 7-0 lead.
Perryville hurler Alyson Stortz ran into some trouble in the top of the fifth inning, retiring the first two batters, but then giving up two hits and walking a pair of batters. Lutheran South was able to scrape home a run in the inning, but Stortz got the final out with a strikeout with the bases loaded.
Stortz pitched a complete game, gave up six hits, while striking out seven.
“I got kind of nervous there, because you try to stay out of grand slam mode,” Wengert said. “With one swing of the bat, they would have been right back in the game. But Alyson was able to pitch through some stuff.“
The Pirates added two more runs in the sixth with RBI doubles by Roberts and Huber.
“Being district champions sounds great to me,” Wengert said. “We are one of eight teams that are still able to practice and that’s pretty special.”