Lady Trojans post 3 conference wins

Mendota downs Coal City in tournament

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Posted 5/12/21

The Mendota Lady Trojans executed a late-game rally to get by Dixon, 8-6, in a Big Northern Conference varsity softball game on April 30 at the MHS field.

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Lady Trojans post 3 conference wins

Mendota downs Coal City in tournament

Posted

The Mendota Lady Trojans executed a late-game rally to get by Dixon, 8-6, in a Big Northern Conference varsity softball game on April 30 at the MHS field.

Each team scored a run in the first, Mendota’s coming when Jenna O’Donnell singled and came home on an error. The Lady Trojans broke the tie in the second on a single by Ryleigh Sondgeroth and an RBI triple by Katie Jenner.

Dixon tied the game in the fourth and then sent eight batters to the plate in the fifth with four of them crossing home plate to take a 6-2 lead.

But Mendota had some fun of its own in the bottom of the fifth. All nine Lady Trojans went to the dish and five of them scored to forge in front, 7-6. Mary DeFore had a two-run double in the frame, while Paige Manning and Emma Schultz both delivered RBI singles. Mendota also benefited from three walks.

The Lady Trojans tacked on an insurance run in the sixth on another run-producing double by DeFore.

DeFore came on in relief of Manning in the circle and slammed the door on the Dixon offense over the final two innings. Manning pitched the first five frames and was credited with the win.

Mendota collected nine hits, led by DeFore, Manning and Jenner with two apiece.

***

Mendota scored all of its runs in the first two innings and held on for a 6-4 BNC triumph over Byron on May 4 at the MHS field.

The Lady Trojans plated three runs in the first on an RBI single by Jenner and a two-run single by Zoe Finley. They added three more tallies in the second with a DeFore two-run double being the big blow.

Mendota was blanked the rest of the way as Byron chipped away at the deficit. It scored one run in the second and two in the third to cut the Lady Trojan lead in half, but could only muster one more run over the final four innings.

DeFore was the starting pitcher and worked five innings to get the victory. Manning came on in the sixth and gave up one run to earn the save.

Byron outhit Mendota, 10-7. Lauren Martin had a pair of singles for the Lady Trojans.

***

Mendota pounded out 13 hits en route to a 15-0 decision over Rockford Christian in BNC action on May 6 at Rockford. The game was stopped after four innings because of the 10-run rule.

The Lady Trojans scored in every inning, putting up a seven-spot in the first frame to take control. They added two runs in the second, five in the third and one in the fourth.

Manning did it with her bat and her arm, collecting two singles and a double and firing a one-hitter to get the pitching win. She struck out eight and did not issue a walk.

Also, Jenner added a pair of doubles, Izabella Nanez singled, doubled and drove in three runs, DeFore ripped two singles and had two RBI, and O’Donnell and Zoe Hanson both doubled.

***

The Lady Trojans played in a three-team round-robin at Ottawa on May 8 and came away with a split in the two games.

Mendota opened with a 7-2 loss to Ottawa.

The Lady Pirates held a 4-0 lead through five innings before Mendota got on the board with its only two tallies of the game in the top of the sixth. O’Donnell had an RBI triple and Manning had a run-scoring ground out for the Lady Trojans.

O’Donnell’s three-bagger was Mendota’s only hit in the contest.

DeFore pitched all six innings for MHS, allowing 14 hits.

Mendota bounced back to earn a 1-0 victory over Coal City.

Manning was the winning pitcher, permitting just one hit in her second consecutive start. The hit came from Coal City’s lead-off batter in the first inning. She recorded five strikeouts and issued no walks.

Hits were hard to come by for the Lady Trojans as well. They totaled just four, but Schultz’s single in the fourth plated O’Donnell, who had led off the inning with a walk and stole second to get in scoring position.

***

Mendota returned to conference action with a trip to Winnebago and the home team posted an 11-6 win over the Lady Trojans on May 10.

It was a good start to the game for the Lady Trojans as they put three runs on the board in the top of the first. DeFore got the uprising started with a one-out single followed by a walk to O’Donnell. Manning singled to drive in one run and Jenner added a single to plate two.

Winnebago got one run back in the bottom of the frame and Mendota answered that with a tally in the third on a single by O’Donnell and an RBI single by Manning. But Winnebago scored three times in the bottom of the third and then sent 13 batters to the plate in the fourth and seven of them scored to put the game away.

The Lady Trojans completed their scoring in the fifth when O’Donnell clouted a two-run homer.

Mendota finished with eight hits, including three by Manning and two by DeFore.

DeFore got the start in the circle and gave up all 11 runs in four innings. Only five runs were earned as Mendota committed eight errors. Manning finished out the contest.