Featured

Softball opens season strong

Published

12 years ago

April 3, 2012

BenGil Staff

Lead by Halpin, Anderson, and Cline

Payton Anderson

The 2012 season for the Gillespie Miners is well upon its way and the Miners have gotten off to a better than average start this season. To this point in the season, they are bragging a 7-3 record with more than 20 games left on the schedule.

The Miners played their first game in Greenville to kick off their season. The game was tight throughout as the Miners outhit the Comets by one hit. They went on to lose 7-4 in seven innings despite outhitting Greenville 10 to nine.

Payton Anderson had two extra-base hits for team which gave the Miners an early lead. Anderson singled in the third and fifth innings and doubled in the first and seventh innings. Gillespie jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first.

Laura Halpin

A double by Abbie Cline, plating Ellen Gray started the inning off. The team went on to add more runs when Gray scored on a passed ball and Cline scored on an RBI double by Anderson. Greenville went up for good in the third, scoring three runs on an RBI double by Kimbro. The game was sealed after that as the Miners did not score another run until the last inning.

After dropping the first game, the Miners bounced back quick as they traveled to Morrisonville for their next game. Gillespie refused to relinquish the lead after grabbing it early against Morrisonville, recording a 16-2 victory on Saturday at Morrisonville.

With six runs in the first three innings, the Miners left no doubt about the eventual outcome. An RBI double by Abbie Cline in the first inning and a two-run double by Payton Anderson, a passed ball, and an error in the second inning fueled the teams’ offense early.

Anderson racked up five RBIs on two hits for the team while Laura Halpin handled Morrisonville’s lineup with ease, racking up eight strikeouts. Halpin allowed just two earned runs on four hits and four walks over the course of six innings.

Standing at a 1-1 record, the Miners took the one game win streak to Edwardsville and extended it to two games after the bats proved to be too much for Metro in the 14-2 victory. The team jumped out to an early lead on Edwardsville Metro Lutheran and captured a 14-2 victory on March 17.

The game was decided quickly as the Miners exerted its will early with nine runs in the first three innings.

An RBI single by Allison Goldasich, a steal of home by Payton Anderson, an RBI triple by Taylor Monke in the first inning along with an RBI single by Anderson in the second inning supplied the early offense for the Miners.

The following Monday the Miners took center stage at Edwardsville High School. The Miners were outmuscled by the Tigers as they broke their two game win streak after Edwardsville defeated them 13-2.

It was a good day at the plate for Laura Halpin. Halpin went 1-2 and scored one run. Halpin doubled in the third inning. On the defensive side, she was confident in the circle as she allowed 13 earned runs over 4 1/3 innings.

Edwardsville hit three home runs in the win as the Miners managed just three hits off of the Edwardsville’s pitcher, who allowed one earned run, walked two and struck out three during her five innings of work.

A one-run third inning helped bring the Miners within three and started to fuel a comeback, but Payton Anderson grounded out to end the threat.

Now standing at a 3-2 record, the Miners continued the streak of away games in Auburn. An awesome effort by Payton Anderson hoisted the Miners to a 31-4 win in five innings over Auburn on Tuesday, March 20.

Anderson racked up nine RBIs on six hits for the team as she doubled in the second inning, homered in the second inning, tripled in the first and fourth innings, and singled in the second and fifth innings.

Twenty-five runs in the opening three innings allowed the Miners to easily put away Auburn as the team hit four home runs in the win. Home-runs came from Alli Goldasich (2), Taylor Monke, and Payton Anderson. The team hammered Auburn pitching as seven hitters had a field day, combining for 25 hits, 23 RBIs and 25 runs scored.

Halpin kept the ball around the plate, throwing strikes on 59 of her 105 pitches. Halpin collected eight strike outs and walked seven for the team as Auburn scored just 4 runs in the effort.

Abbie Cline

Coming off a big win, the Miners continued the win streak on the home front as they played their first game at home against Mt. Olive. The team jumped out to an early lead on Mt. Olive and captured a 10-1 victory on Tuesday, March 26.

With seven runs in the first three innings, the Miners left no doubt about the eventual outcome. An RBI single by Alex Burns in the second inning helped the team put some runs on the board early. Burns racked up three RBIs on two hits for the Miners.

Mt. Olive couldn’t get anything going so long as Laura Halpin toed the rubber. Halpin held Mt. Olive hitless over three innings, allowed no earned runs, walked none and struck out six.

The Miners increased its lead with five runs in the third as Abbie Cline doubled, plating Gray to start the inning. The team piled on two more runs in the top of the sixth as Ellen Gray’s single got things going, bringing home Molly Gray. That was followed up by a sacrifice fly by Payton Anderson that scored Ellen Gray.

The team then went on the road and faced off against Dupo and edged past them 5-4 to come home and host Triad. Triad came in Welfare Park guns blazing and walloped the Miners 20-6 after countless errors from the Miner defense.

The Miners then went on the road to Carlinville and cruised past them 10-1 in seven innings. Gillespie scored five runs in the fifth on an RBI triple by Abbie Cline as she collected two extra-base hits in the game on March 29.

Carlinville had no answer for Laura Halpin, who dominated the circle. Carlinville managed just two hits off of Halpin, who allowed no earned runs, walked three and struck out five during her seven innings of work.

Cline, Jordan Rosentreter and Ellen Gray helped lead the Miners as they combined for eight hits and four RBIs in the nine run victory.

Gillespie then had a few days off before heading to Bethalto to take on Civic Memorial. The Miners held the Eagles scoreless through the first two innings, but lost the lead in the third inning when Bethalto scored two. Two is all it took as the Eagles defeated the Miners 2-0 on Saturday, March 31.

The Miners went scoreless through the seven innings of play as Ellen Gray had the teams’ only two hits. Laura Halpin gave up just two hits over the course of the game as she walked nine and struck out seven.

After beating Calhoun last night, 4-3, the Miners are now 7-3 and will take on East Alton Wood River tonight and then come back home on Wednesday to face North Mac.

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Featured

Gillespie man injured in DUI accident

Published

9 years ago

October 16, 2015

BenGil Staff

Genisio's Ford Mustang in the City of Gillespie's impound lot Tuesday morning.

A Gillespie man was taken to a local hospital after suffering injuries following a single-vehicle accident that occurred Sunday morning, October 11, after he drove off the roadway and into a deep ditch near the intersection of Route 16 and Charles Street in Gillespie.

Gillespie Police Chief Jared DePoppe reported that the police department was dispatched to the scene of the accident shortly before 3 a.m. Officers arrived to find Jonathan Genisio, 29, of Gillespie as the driver and only occupant inside the Ford Mustang vehicle.

Genisio was arrested, but give a notice to appear in court so he could seek medical treatment. He was charged with six different counts in addition to having his vehicle impounded. His charges include driving under the influence of alcohol, no insurance, improper lane usage, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, failure to notify SOS of an address change and failure to wear a seat belt.

At the time of publication on Thursday evening, the vehicle was recovered from impound and Genisio was discharged from the hospital. The extent of his injuries was unable to be released by medical personnel.

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Community News

Gillespie council discusses budget and meeting process

Published

9 years ago

August 1, 2015

BenGil Staff

Treasurer Dan Fisher (right) addresses the council.

The treasurer for the City of Gillespie had a lot to say about how city officials handle their subcommittees and how city funds are spent during the city’s committee meeting held Monday evening, July 27.

Dan Fisher, the elected treasurer for Gillespie, spoke to the council for over 30 minutes about how bills are paid and more importantly, how purchases are appropriated for and planned. During the city’s board meeting held earlier this month, Fisher suggested the council move their meeting dates to coincide with how the bills are paid.

He explained that many council members bring up issues or have questions about certain bills during the council meetings, but the questions are left to be answered by the city clerk who isn’t present at the board meetings. In addition to dragging out the meetings, Fisher said the questions should be taken care of before the meeting is held.

“We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things,” Fisher told the council Monday evening. “We need to spend more time on appropriating.”

We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things

Fisher distributed a “Budget Basics” packet to board members during the committee meeting held Monday and said the council should consider implementing a purchase order system to account for all purchases. “That way when the bills come in, we can match the form up with it and everyone knows what the purchase was for and what account it comes out of,” he clarified.

Council members agreed with what Fisher had to say to them. “We need to spend a lot of time when do our appropriation and it’s going to take a lot of time from everyone, including myself,” he continued. “We need to find a way to be collective in how we do things.”

Fisher closed by adding that the council also takes too long at their regular city council meetings, which are held on the second Monday of each month. Speaking of the city’s July meeting that lasted nearly 3 hours, Fisher said the council needs to be much more “business-like”.

“We take too long at our meetings,” he closed. “It’s been proven that people lose focus after 90 minutes and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get a meeting done in 1 hour and 15 minutes.”

City clerk Frances Smith spoke up after Fisher referred to the council’s last meeting. She prefaced her statement by saying she didn’t intend to saying anything, but continued by saying that the council’s July 13^th meeting took her three days to transcribe. “It makes the clerk’s job hard – whoever it is,” she said. “There is a lot of side conversations and it’s very hard to hear on the tape.”

Ash Street Project

Alderman Steve Kluthe informed the board that he received the bid specifications back for the Ash Street Project which allows the council to advertise the specs to get an idea how much drainage project will cost.

Kluthe said the bid specifications cover everything including equal opportunity employer and prevailing wage information, but said the project could probably be handled by a local contractor. The project includes installing a culvert that will transfer the water to Cherry Street.

The council hopes the completed project will then alleviate the water that currently gets backed up north of Ash Street. “They are going to put a culvert underneath Ash Street to the north and grade the ground on the north side so the water flows to the culvert and down to the south end where there is a storm drain,” Kluthe explained.

TIF District

We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development

Fisher informed the council that the tax bills for the TIF district went out and the city can expect to receive close to $60,000. He reminded the council that even though the city made a big payment to United Community Bank last year in excess of $90,000, there will still be a payment made to UCB for their portion paid into the TIF until the TIF expires, which Fisher said is 12-14 more years.

After the city pays UCB, Fisher said the council can expect to still have somewhere north of $40,000 remaining each year. “I would like us to start to look at other projects that meet the TIF criteria that we could spend $20-$30,000 per year,” Fisher explained. “Long-range projects – projects that could last 10-12 years. We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development.”

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