Advance to Sectional Semi-Finals

The Gillespie High School girls softball team poses for a picture with their Regional plaque after winning Regionals Saturday morning. The girls will play Alton Marquette Wednesday afternoon in Vandalia.
The softball team pounded Southwestern on Saturday 11-1 at Hillsboro Regional in six innings. The Miners scored four runs in the fifth on an RBI single by Abbie Cline, an error, and an RBI single by Payton Anderson.
Molly Gray racked up two RBIs on three hits for GHS Softball. She singled in the second, fourth, and sixth innings.
Laura Halpin racked up six strikeouts in the win as she allowed no earned runs, three hits and five walks over six innings.
The Miners jumped out 2-0 in the first inning as Payton Anderson knocked Ellen Gray in and then later came around to score on an error. The early advantage sparked the Miner team for the next three innings as only four players got to bat.
Two innings later, the softball team moved ahead 5-0 with the help of Abbie Cline and Payton Anderson. Laura Halpin was able to score on an error while Abbie Cline knocked Molly Gray in on a line drive to center field. Cline later scored on an RBI line drive from Anderson.
Southwestern then changed pitchers, but it did not pose any trouble for the Miners as the bats were still hot against WIlfong. Just the next inning, bottom of the fifth, the Miners loaded the bases as Loni Manalia doubled, Molly Gray walked, and Ellen Gray walked. Abbie Cline brought all three runners to home with a line drive to center.
Payton Anderson then knocked in Abbie to bring the score to 9-0. In the top of the sixth, the Piasa Birds finally were able to add a digit to the away side of the scoreboard as Wooldridge reached home plate on an infield error.
Now with the score 9-1, the Miners had no trouble bringing in the last two runs to get the short game over the Birds. Loni Manalia reached second with her second double of the game while Laura Halpin walked to put the two game-ending runs on base. Molly Gray came through with a slap over the first baseman’s head to bring both runs home.
The two runs won the game for the Miners as freshman Molly Gray was the unanimously player of the game. Molly Gray and Payton Anderson led the team with 3 hits each while Abbie Cline racked 2 hits in the Regional Championship game. Abbie Cline led the team with 4 RBI’s while Halpin got the win on the rubber.
The Miners advanced to the semi-finals in Sectionals and will play Alton Marquette Wednesday, May 23 in Vandalia with the game scheduled to start at 4:30pm.
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