Cumberland Advances, South Central Season Ends

Cumberland broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the sixth inning and that's all it took for a 2-0 win over Morrisonville in the Class 1A Effingham St. Anthony Softball Sectional Wednesday.

The Pirates tallied a run on the homer by Maddie Hendrix. Sadie Oakley added a triple and Danae Sowers had two singles.

Liberty Dunaway threw a four-hitter with one walk and five strikeouts. She improved her pitching record to 17-8.

Cumberland improved to 24-8 on the season and will now face Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg (24-4) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Evergreen Hollow Park for the sectional championship. The last time these two teams met, Cumberland blanked the Hatchets 3-0.

Class 1A St. Anthony Sectional

Morrisonville              000    000    0    --    0-4-1

Cumberland               000    002    x    --    2-5-3

WP -- Dunaway. LP -- none listed.

Morrisonville -- no hits listed

Cumberland -- S. Oakley, triple; Sowers, 2 singles; Dunaway, single; Hendrix, home run (sixth, none on), 1 RBI

Class 1A Marissa Sectional

South Central saw its season come to a close in the Class 1A Marissa Sectional Wednesday.

The Cougars were tied at 1-1 with New Athens in the opening inning. But New Athens came back with two in the third and one in the fourth for the 4-1 victory.

Katie Shumate had the lone hit for the Cougars with a double.

"Tonight we didn't get the hits like we have been getting," said South Central Coach Gary Kapper. "The pitcher for New Athens did a good job of keeping us off balance all night. Sydnee Garrett pitched a good game. Coming in this year as a freshman and pitching in some big games, she did really well.

"We had a very good year finishing 14-8 and that with eight freshmen out of 16 girls on the team. We got third in the National Trail Conference Tournament and won only the second regional in school history. The last one was 24 years ago. Those were great accomplishments for such a young team.

"I am proud of our seniors, Zoe Johnston, Serina Lee and Lexie Reid. They played all four years in the high school. We also had a senior foreign exchange student, Chara Valnegri. I'd also like to thank assistant Coach Reed Garrett for all the work he did for our team. Without his help and work with the girls, we would not have had the success we did."

Class 1A Marissa Sectional

South Central              100    000    0    --    1-1-3

New Athens                 102    100    x    --    4-5-1

WP -- none listed. LP -- Garrett.

South Central -- Shumate, double

New Athens -- no hits listed