Published on April 10, 2026 9:52 am
Last Updated on April 10, 2026 9:57 am
BY MILLIE LANGE
Effingham High School held off Charleston in the first game of a softball doubleheader but fell victim in the second contest Thursday.
The Hearts trailed 7-4 after four innings but came back with a 4-1 fifth inning to tie the score at 8-8. EHS then moved into an 11-8 lead in the sixth and held off a final inning challenge for the 11-10 victory.
EHS outhit Charleston by a 13-10 count but finished with seven errors in the game.
Natalie Armstrong had two singles, a home run and four RBI for the Hearts while Giah Schlanser added a single and two doubles. Maci Hayes had a single, double and three RBI and Ryley Engel a single, double and an RBI. Aubrey Poe chipped in with two RBI and Layla McBride added a single and an RBI.
Armstrong went 6.2 innings on the mound, giving up 10 runs on 10 hits, five walks and striking out four.
Charleston came back to take the second game in five innings, 16-1.
The Trojans finished with 19 hits and ran out to a 7-1 opening inning lead.
Effingham had three hits led by Engel with two singles and an RBI.
At Effingham
Game One
Charleston 140 210 2 — 10-10-2
Effingham 012 143 x — 11-13-7
WP — Armstrong. LP — Cox.
Charleston — Beals, single, 2 RBI; Keefer, 2 doubles, 4 RBI; Cox, single, 1 RBI; Watson, single, 1 RBI; Ritchey, 2 singles; Clark, 2 singles; Lewis, single
Effingham — Hayes, single, double, 3 RBI; Engel, single, double, RBI; Koenig, single; Armstrong, single, 2 home runs, 4 RBI; Schlanser, single, 2 doubles; Hartman, single; Poe, 2 RBI; McBride, single, 1 RBI
Game Two
Charleston 704 14 — 16-19-2
Effingham 100 00 — 1- 3-3
WP — Good. LP — McBride.
Charleston — Beals, 5 singles; Keefer, 2 singles, double, triple, 7 RBI; Cox, 3 singles, double, 4 RBI; Eastman, single, triple, 2 RBI; Rithcye, single, 1 RBI; Clark, single, 1 RBI; Lewis, single; Hernandez-Raymer, single
Effingham — Engel, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Cunningham, single
At St. Anthony
Despite being outhit by a 9-8 edge and putting up three errors, Effingham St. Anthony battled to a 5-2 victory over Breese Mater Dei Thursday.
The Bulldogs edged out to a 1-0 opening innimg lead then tallied two runs in the second and third innings to lead 5-1. Mater Dei came back with one run in the seventh.
St. Anthony had eight hits led by Lilly Gannaway with a single and double, Julia Schultz with a double, Mallory Litz with a double, Sadie Vineyard with a single and an RBI and Nancy Ruholl with an RBI.
Ruholl went the distance on the mound giving up two runs on nine hits, three walks and striking out three.
At St. Anthony
Breese Mater Dei 001 000 1 — 2-9-2
St. Anthony 122 000 x — 5-8-3
WP — Ruholl. LP — Robert.
Breese Mater Dei — Robert, single; Wheelan, single; Rich, double; Diekemper, single, 1 RBI; Rolves, single, 1 RBI; Wesselmann, single; O’Brien, single; Huelsmann, 2 singles
St. Anthony — Gannaway, single, double; Vonderheide, single; Schultz, double; Ruholl, 1 RBI; Wines, single; Vineyard, single 1 RBI; Litz, double; Kinkelaar, single
At Dieterich
South Central blanked Dieterich by an 8-0 tally Thursday as Maddie Peddicord tossed a one-hitter.
Peddicord went the seven innings, striking out 12 and giving up five walks.
Meanwhile, the Cougars finished with 10 hits and was aided by seven Dieterich errors.
Lauren Johnson and Zoey Feldhake had a double and an RBI each while Kinlee Thompson and Emmie Ruholl finished with two singles and an RBI each. Perci Reid added an RBI.
Dieterich’s lone hit was a single by Allison Boerngen.
At Dieterich
South Central 114 020 0 — 8-10-2
Dieterich 000 000 0 — 0- 1-7
WP — Peddicord. LP — Boerngen.
South Central — Peddicord, single; Montes, single ;Thompson, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Johnson, double, 1 RBI; E. Ruholl, 2 singles, 1 RBI; Feldhake, double, 1 RBI; Reid, 1 RBI; Rose, single; Ruholl, single
Dieterich — Boerngen, single
At Strasburg
Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg had to battle a comeback from Newton to pull out a 5-4 victory Thursday in nine innings.
Windsor/Stew-Stras held a 1-0 lead in the fourth and tacked on two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to lead 4-0.
But Newton rallied, scoring four runs in the top of the seventh to knot the score at 4-4.
“It wasn’t a pretty top of the seventh, but we came away with the win,” said WSS Coach Lindsay Krumreich. “Kendra Hayes had an awesome day and deserved a shutout but glad she could help herself get the win with a leadoff triple in the ninth while Makenna Corrie had a great day behind the plate and helped in the win with the sacrifice fly.”
Hayes finished with two singles, a double, triple and an RBI while Claire Holland had two singles, Makenna Corrie a single and an RBI and Clarissa Johnson with an RBI.
Hayes went the nine innings on the mound. She gave up four runs on four hits, three walks while striking out 10.
Newton had four hits, all singles by Allie Hermann, Jacee Dhom, Lexie Ghast and Paige Wagner.
At Strasburg
Newton 000 000 400 — 4- 4-2
Windsor/Stew-Stras 000 121 001 — 5-12-3
WP — Hayes. LP — Deckard.
Newton — Hermann, single; Dhom, single; Ghast, single; Wagner, single
Windsor/Stew-Stras — M. Friese, 2 singles; Carey, single; Hayes, 2 singles, double, triple, 1 RBI; Corrie, single, 1 RBI; Johnson, 1 RBI; K. Friese, single; Holland, 2 singles; Rincker, single
At Mattoon
Cumberland played host to Shelbyville in a contest played at Lake Land College and easily downed the Rams, 16-1 in four innings Thursday.
The Pirates scored nine runs in the second and seven in the fourth. Shelbyville’s lone run came in the third.
Cumberland finished with 11 hits led by Lauren Schnepper with a single, triple and four RBI, Jude Miller with two singles and two RBI and Mia Holsapple with a double and two RBI. Jade Carr added two singles while Ava Long, Kada Miles and Shelby Kingery added a single and an RBI each. Kinley McMechan and Makenna Russell added an RBI each.
Holsapple went the four innings, giving up one run on four hits, no walks and striking out one.
Shelbyville finished with four errors.
At Mattoon
Shelbyville 001 0 — 1- 4-1
Cumberland 090 7 — 16-11-1
WP — Holsapple. LP — Wildman.
Shelbyville — Jokish, single; Jones, single, 1 RBI; Logan, single; Bennett, single
Cumberland — Tolen, single; Carr, 2 singles; Schnepper, single, triple, 4 RBI; Long, single, 1 RBI; Miles, single, 1 RBI; Miller, 2 singles, 2 RBI; Holsapple, double, 2 RBI; Kingery, single, 1 RBI; McMechan, 1 RBI; Russell, 1 RBI
At Cowden
Vandalia outlasted Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City by a 17-12 count Thursday.
The two teams were tied at 2-2 after the first inning. Vandalia then moved into a 7-3 lead in the third.
CHBC came back with two runs in the fourth and tied the score in the fifth at 8-8.
But Vandalia came roaring back with a nine-run sixth. The Bobcats fought back with a four-run bottom of the seventh only to fall short.
Ryleigh Sarver led CHBC with two home runs, a triple and five RBI. Harper Lilly added a home run and three RBI. Jayla Arnett finished with a single and double and Allison Shields had three singles.
At Cowden
Vandalia 205 019 0 — 17
CHBC 201 230 4 — 12
WP — Sefton. LP — Prater.
Vandalia — no hits listed
Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City –– Shields, 3 singles; Lilly, home run, 3 RBI; Sarver, triple, 2 home runs, 5 RBI; Prater, single; Arnett, single, double; Dover, single