As heard on New Country 104.1...

The Taylorville softball team pulled off a 3-2 win over Meridian on Wednesday afternoon.  The Tornadoes took a late lead and held on in dramatic fashion to beat a Hawks team which regularly contends among the best in the sport in Illinois. 

Taylorville took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Carsen Corzine singled home Olivia Gray.  The lead did not last long, as wild pitches helped pinch-runner Reese Cramm cross the plate in the subsequent half-inning. 

Pitching dominated the following three innings as neither side gave up any more runs in that time.  Meridian's Ashley Schelling and Taylorville's Peyton DeMichael each gave up just one runner in separate 11-hitter stretches.  Schelling's trend included six strikeouts, five in succession.

Meridian went in front in the top of the sixth.  Shelby Renfro doubled and then scored on a throwing error in the effort to put out Morgan Knierim at first on the following play.  Taylorville came back as an RBI-triple by Hope Kietzman brough home pinch-runner Maleah Repscher.  Kietzman herself would then score on an RBI-single by Olivia Gray two batters later. 

The away side threatened in the seventh when Kaci Hayes was hit by a pitch with one out.  On the next play, Larissa Wells launched a fly-ball to center field to which Gray had to scramble to catch it.  Noticing that Hayes was on her way to second base, Gray threw to Mia Lyons at first, barely beating the runner back to the bag to record the final out. 

Kietzman earned the title of New Country Nicole Patrick Country Financial Player of the Game for her sixth-inning heroics.  She also hit a double in the second inning.  Olivia Gray had two hits and also scored the game's first run.  Peyton DeMichael went 3-3 in addition to a quality complete-game outing in the circle, in which she conceded one earned run on four hits while striking out three. 

No one on Meridian garnered more than one hit, with Shelby Renfro's double the only extra-base hit her side achieved.  Ashley Schelling also threw the complete game and gave up three earned runs on nine hits and three walks while recording nine strikeouts.

Taylorville has eclipsed its win total from the whole of last season; they stand at 4-2 ahead of a trip to MacArthur.  Meridian returns to Macon with an 8-2 record to face Warrensburg-Latham in the Central Illinois Conference.