A walk-off walk.
A complete game 4-hitter.
About $2,500 raised to support a CHS school nurse fighting breast cancer.
An Apollo Conference opener.
And also a rivalry matchup.
Let’s unpack.
For starters, Charleston swept Mattoon in the teams’ conference opener Wednesday at Karen Karch Field, 5-1 and 6-5.
In the opener, CHS’s Karah Moore pitched a nearly flawless game, limiting Mattoon to four hits, striking out four, and not allowing a walk. She allowed just one run, on a sacrifice fly by Sophie Artis that followed two singles in the fourth inning.
Freshman Avery Beals, meanwhile, had three hits and scored twice while junior Addison Shrader drove in two runs on a triple and single.
Charleston never led in the second game of the doubleheader until the final pitch.
The Green Wave took its largest lead, 4-1, in the third inning on a two-run single by Sydney Starwalt.
CHS rallied for a run the third and scored twice more in the fourth on Shrader’s two-run triple to make it 4-all.
The Green Wave rallied with two outs in the top of the seventh after a single, two walks and a single.
The Trojans’ rally nearly stalled in the bottom of the seventh – two singles were followed by two fly outs. But Blair Ritchey then walked to load the bases before Brie Tomlinson’s RBI single to tie the score. Beals then earned a walk after falling behind 1-2 in the count to force in the winning run.
Karah Moore rapped a team-high three hits, followed by Clara Cox and Ritchey who had two apiece.
“We are happy to get the wins,” Charleston softball coach Blain Mayhall said. “It was great to see some of our younger players step up in big moments. Yesterday showed us that we need to tighten up our defense at times and learn to make adjustments at the plate. Defense was a lot better in Game 2, but we have believe in ourselves at the plate and stop overthinking things every time we don’t get a hit. Softball is game of ups and downs. We can’t worry about the downs. We have to learn to turn the page and be ready for the next play or at bat and focus on what we can do next to help the team.”
Kailyn Wilson went the distance for Charleston giving up 6 hits, 5 runs and had 4 strikeouts. Aubry Cross was in the circle for Mattoon. She went the full 6 2/3 innings, giving up 10 hits, 6 runs, and striking out 2.
The two teams also sold t-shirts to raise about $2,500 donated to CHS nurse Rhonda Pedigo, who is completing treatments for breast cancer.
“I am most proud of the girls for the money raised to support Nurse Pedigo,” Mayhall said.
Coles County Sports 