CARTERVILLE, Ill. — The Lady Raiders put together 28 hits and 23 runs Saturday to continue their strong start. Summer Shockley struck out 15 as the Lady Raiders won the opener against John A. Logan (Ill.) 7-1, and then Allison Pingel had a grand slam and seven RBIs in the nightcap as Three Rivers won 16-8. Three Rivers (4-0) has now swept Dyersburg State and Logan to open the season. Shockley (2-0) has 23 strikeouts for the season and an 1.34 ERA. "She was dealing. She was throwing hard," Three Rivers coach Jeff Null said. "Velocity was up and the ball was moving all over the place. She has put it a lot of work so it is just paying off for her." Shockley also pitched the final 1 2/3 innings in the second game for her first save and struck out all five batters she faced, giving her 20 for the day. Despite the dominant numbers, the Van Buren alumna pitched with runners on base in all but one inning. Shockley scattered four hits, two hit batters and four walks. Seven runners reached scoring position in four different innings. "Their hits were pretty clean hits. She doesn't didn't make enough mistakes to give them much," Null said. Everyone else, however, pretty much struck out. Logan hit into just six outs, including a fielder's choice. Shockley nearly got the shutout, but walked the first two batters of the seventh inning and gave up an RBI double to center before closing the game with two strikeouts and a groundout. Six different Lady Raiders scored with Kabrien Rogers crossing home twice. "We'd get a run here and a run there, it was just a pretty solid performance all the way around," Null said. Gracie King had an three run single to right in the fourth inning and Sophie Wunderlich had a two-run triple in the seventh. Kristyn Carpenter, Kierstan Loman and Pingel each had two hits. Coupled with her monster game in the nightcap, Pingel was 4 for 8 with four runs and eight RBIs in the doubleheader. Through four games she leads Three Rivers with a .615 batting average and a 1.077 slugging percentage. Her and Ally Law, who bats behind her in the lineup, both have two home runs. Law had a two-run homer in the third inning of the nightcap that might have been a grand slam, but Pingel had a three run single ahead of her. The five quick runs put Three Rivers ahead 6-0 through three innings. Logan put together all eight of its runs in the fourth and fifth innings and going into the top of the seventh Three Rivers led 9-8. All seven runs Three Rivers scored in the final frame were unearned and six of them were with two outs. Randi Scruggs had a single with one out to drive in Kierstan Loman, who reached on an error. After a fielder's choice, King drew a bases-loaded walk, and Pingel cleared them with a homer to center. Law singled, moved to second on an error, and Shockley singled to right to drive her in and complete the scoring. Macy Rogers pitched the first three innings and got the win. She allowed three runs, five hits and a walk with one strikeout. Carleigh Burnett pitched one inning and allowed five runs off four walks and two hits with one strikeout. Kari Hatridge pitched 1 1/3 and allowed two hits and a walk.
Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic