Panthers ride early lead to win over Riders

ST. MARYS - Timely hitting in the first two innings staked Parkway to an early lead, and Meg Henkle kept St. Marys in check for six innings to maintain it.

The Panthers scored six runs in the first two innings and padded the lead in the sixth on the way to a 9-2 softball win at K.C. Geiger Park on Tuesday.

"We jumped out early," Parkway coach Trey Stover said. "The first two innings, we got a couple two-strike, two-out hits there to drive in some runs and set the tone for the game."

Madison Louth got Parkway (2-0) started by beating out an infield single in the top of the first, and Adyson Van De Keere walked the next two batters to load the bases before striking out Adria Miller on three pitches.

With two outs, Avery White hit a low line drive that tailed away from KayLynn Mabry and deflected off her glove, allowing a run to score. Madi Jacobs fouled off two two-strike pitches to stay alive and then smacked a line drive up the middle past diving second baseman Alexis Shadrach, bringing two more runs home.

"We've got some young ones out there, and I think there were some jitters that didn't need to be there," St. Marys coach Kendra Solomon said. "Got the best of us a little bit sometimes."

St. Marys (0-1) had a chance to answer right away after an error and a pair of two-out singles loaded the bases, but Henkle struck out Bailey Weigel on three pitches to extinguish the threat.

The Panthers came right back in the top of the second. Paige Stephenson hit a line-drive double down the left field line to bring in one run, Henkle darted home on a passed ball, and Miller lined an RBI single into right to make it 6-0.

"We talked about that last year, we kind of struggled in some big situations with runners in scoring position," Stover said. "We really focused on putting the ball in play with two strikes and just making something happen, and we did a great job with that tonight."

The Roughriders had another chance to get on the board in the second after Cadence Hirschfeld was hit by a pitch and Ashlyn Ross worked a two-out walk, but Henkle got Kelly Holsinger to ground out to third to strand both runners. Shadrach crossed the plate in the third after reaching on an error and scoring on Weigel's grounder to short, but St. Marys got no closer.

Starting with Weigel's groundout, Henkle retired nine straight batters in 28 pitches to keep the Roughriders from rallying.

"She really got command of her pitches there early in the game, and she definitely got stronger as the game went on," Stover said.

"Their pitcher had some good movement, and we were chasing her stuff," Solomon said. "Just need to keep that discipline at the plate, stay aggressive and push those runs across when we need them. We got runners on early, we just need to click those hits together a little more consistently."

Van De Keere navigated through three scoreless innings before running into trouble in the sixth. Brittyn Bruns led off with a single, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch before Henkle singled her in. Stephenson added a single and Miller drove in Henkle, but was thrown out trying to stretch a single to a double.

Stephenson scored on a wild pitch before Van De Keere got the third out. She then stranded three runners in the seventh, finishing with two strikeouts and allowing three earned runs in seven innings of work.

"Defensively, we did some things that we don't want our pitcher to have to worry about," Solomon said. "They know that. But she did well. Fought with it, stayed with it, got power going through it and pushed through."

St. Marys added one more run on in the sixth, as Weigel and Hirschfeld singled before two wild pitches brought Weigel home, but Henkle got Makenzie Henning to ground out to strand Hirschfeld at third. Bryn Schoenleben came on for the seventh and pitched around a one-out single to close out the Roughriders.

Bruns and Stephenson each had three hits, including a double, for the Panthers. Van De Keere went 2-for-3.

Parkway hosts Celina Thursday in its home opener, while St. Marys travels to New Bremen on Friday.