Hearts Complete Three-Game Sweep of City Series

A thunderstorm washed out Game 3 of the Baseball City Series, but Game 3 of the Softball City Series was played, allowing the Effingham Lady Hearts the opportunity to sweep the series from the St. Anthony Lady Bulldogs, 9-5, Friday evening. The game was heard on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com.  

Thunder and lightning were seen right after St. Anthony's Maddie Schuette threw the first pitch of the game, leading to a one-hour delay. Deciding to wait out the storm, umpires got the game in thanks to work by volunteers and the crushed brick surface on Bulldog Field.

St. Anthony took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a laser like home run by Hunter Niebrugge.

Effingham bounced right back in the top of the second. After scoring once and loading the bases, Morgan Wilson hit a grand slam to give the Hearts a 5-3 lead. Effingham plated two more runs in the third to extend the lead to 7-3 and that's where the score stood until the Bulldogs pushed across two runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull within 7-5. However, the Hearts scored twice in the top of the seventh to pull back ahead by four runs and eventually post the win.

Hope Collier went the distance to post the win for Effingham. Maddie Schuette also pitched a complete game in taking the loss for St. Anthony.

Effingham is now 16-10 on the season and won their first City Series in seven seasons. St. Anthony is now 14-16 on the campaign.

GAME STATS: 

Effingham 9 runs, 9 hits, 1 error, 10 left on base; St. Anthony 5 runs, 8 hits, no errors, 4 left on base

Hope Collier of Effingham got the win, 7 innings, 8 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 2 home runs allowed

Maddie Schuette of St. Anthony took the loss, 7 innings, 9 hits, 9 runs, 9 earned runs, 10 walks, 3 strikeouts, 1 home run allowed

Effingham batting: 

Morgan Wilson--grand slam homer, run scored, 4 RBI; Madison Weis--two walks; Hope Collier--single and walk; Kaylee Tonn--two walks; Shelby Borries--run scored; Jenna Wright--single and walk, two runs scored; Brittany Beals--single and walk, run scored, RBI; Aly Armstrong--two singles, two runs scored; Alyssa Kersey--single and walk, run scored, 2 RBI; Ashlyn Hanks--two singles and walk, run scored, RBI

St. Anthony batting:

Paige Koester--two singles; Morgan Gardewine--two singles, run scored; Jenna Woltman--single and walk, run scored; Hunter Niebrugge--three-run homer and single, two runs scored, 3 RBI; Megan Nuxoll--two-run homer, run scored, 2 RBI