Perryville softball rallies past Poplar Bluff at SoftballFest

~ The Pirates won 4-2 at the Notre Dame SoftballFest but may have lost their pitcher in the process

Lilly Pecaut welcomes big pressure situations, confident she can excel when one presents itself.

The Perryville catcher stepped to the plate with a runner at first and one out in the bottom of the fifth in a tie game.

Pecaut, who was 2 for 2 with a single and a double at that point, fouled off two pitches before belting an RBI triple to the right-field fence that propelled the Pirates to a 4-2 win over Poplar Bluff in the first round of the Notre Dame SoftballFest at Kelso City Park on Thursday.

"It definitely gets the adrenaline pumping, and you really get into it a lot more, that's my favorite spot to be in," Pecaut said about hitting the game winning RBI triple. "I think it helps the younger girls also. It teaches them a lot in the sense that even though we were down we knew we could fight back and win."

Perryville (3-3) went on to retire Poplar Bluff in the sixth inning and emerged victorious when the 90-minute time limit for the tournament games expired.

Poplar Bluff (2-1) suffered its first loss of the season.

The Mules struck first, scoring two runs in the second inning.

Shelby Sievers led off the inning with a double. She scored two batters later on a one-out single by Maci Coleman.

Coleman scored during the next at-bat when Alyson Griffin hit a double to left field. Griffin tried to stretch her double into a triple, but was thrown out by Pirates' right fielder Allison Brewer.

"If she makes it to third on that play, we've got a different ball game and possibly another run," Poplar Bluff coach Lisa Boyer said.

Perryville answered with a two-out, two-run rally in the third inning.

Emma Nelson singled to start the uprising and scored when Pecaut, who went 3 for 3, doubled to right field. Macey Hall followed with a walk and Courtney Wingerter was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Perryville’s Emma Nelson fields a grounder during Thursday’s game against Poplar Bluff in the Notre Dame Softballfest.

Andrea Pannier singled to right to score Pecaut from third. Hall tried to score from second, but was tagged out in a collision at home plate.

Perryville coach Darin Deckerd said he didn't regret the out at home, even though it could have had ramifications in the outcome of the game.

"We are very aggressive in everything that we do," Deckerd said. "That kind of swung the momentum their way, but doing the little things like bunting and going to the next base once the ball hits the dirt are all things we like to do to stay aggressive and put pressure on the other team, so that the pressure is off of us. Luckily we hung in there so we could do those little things and come out on top."

The Mules were silenced by Pirates' starting pitcher Macey Hall after the third inning. The right-hander struck out two and gave up five hits in five innings before leaving with an injury to her left hand.

Hall did not allow Poplar Bluff another base runner until the fifth inning, but even then she worked herself out of a jam.

Coleman hit a single, her second of the day to start the inning. Hall got Griffin to pop out to the second baseman for the first out, then watched her defense get the lead runner on a fielder's choice for the second out.

Lara Hafford singled to extend the inning, but the Mules last good chance at scoring ended when Lexi Hafford popped out to second.

"The pressure was on there, and it's kind of new for me to be pitching and not in the field," Hall said. "I've always played third base up until this year, so I know what it's like to back up your pitcher on defense. This year it's different for me because now I'm the one that has to make pitches so they can make plays. They did a great job behind me today."

Boyer said her team has to work on driving in runs with runners in scoring position.

"We just couldn't get that big hit today when it mattered," Boyer said. "If you leave runners on like that in a close game, it's going to hurt you later, and it obviously did hurt us. It's still early in the season. Everybody has things they have to work on at this part of the season, so I'm not too concerned about fixing that."

Adrianne Stucker suffered the loss in the circle for the Mules. She struck out five over 4 1/3 innings.

Perryville tacked on an insurance run in the fifth inning after Pecaut's triple. Hall helped her own cause with a well-placed bunt down the third-base line to score Pecaut for a 4-2 lead.

The Pirates did suffer a setback on the next play, when Hall possibly broke a finger on a head-first slide into second on a steal.

"As soon as I hit it I knew," said Hall, who was safe on the play. "Last July it was the same play. I came up knowing that it was broken, and my season is likely done."

Deckerd was a little more optimistic and doesn't want to jump to conclusions until the finger is checked out.

"It could be a huge blow for us for sure. She's one of our best pitchers," Deckerd said. "But I'm not a doctor, I'm a coach and I'm going to let them take a look at it. Either way we have girls that can step up and fill in for her and help us win games."

Hall was lifted from the game and replaced by Wingerter, who pitched a scoreless sixth.

Hall struck out two and gave up five hits.

Deckerd was happy with the win and said the Pirates are accustomed to making comebacks.

"We have really hammered down the point of battling; that's kind of a thing we take pride in," Deckerd said. "If we're down 2-0, we're going to battle back one inning at a time and not look forward too much."

Perryville later lost to Portageville 3-1 in the quarterfinals Thursday. The Pirates will play the loser of Notre Dame vs. Sikeston at 8 a.m. Saturday in a fifth-place semifinal.

In other tournament action, Notre Dame won 13-0 over the Jackson JV in the first round. Sikeston defeated Chaffee 5-4 in another first-round game. Notre Dame later advanced to the semifinals with a 7-1 over Sikeston in the quarterfinals.

Saxony lost its first-round game to Portageville 1-0, and then fell to Poplar Bluff, 5-4.

Perryville 4, Poplar Bluff 2

Perryville 002 020 -- 4 7 0

Poplar Bluff 020 000 -- 2 6 0

WP -- Macey Hall. LP -- Adrianne Stucker. 3B -- Lilly Pecaut (P). 2B -- Lilly Pecaut (P), Shelby Sievers (PB), Alyson Griffin (PB). Multiple hitter -- Perryville: Lilly Pecaut 3-3. Poplar Bluff: Shelby Sievers 2-3, Maci Coleman 2-2. Records: Perryville 3-3, Poplar Bluff 2-1.

------

Portageville 3, Perryville 1

Portageville 000 201 -- 3 2 0

Perryville 001 000 -- 1 3 2

WP -- Taylor Tiffany. LP -- Courtney Wingerter. 3B -- Kailyn Fahnestock (Pe). Multiple hitters -- Perryville: Kailyn Fahnestock 2-3.

------

Notre Dame 13, Jackson JV 0

Notre Dame 006 52 -- 13 14 0

Jackson JV 000 00 -- 0 0 6

WP -- Nikki Peters. LP -- Kailey Boyer. 2B -- Payton Friga (ND), Claire Landewee (ND), Carson Freeman (ND). Multiple hitters -- Notre Dame: Maria Layton 2-2, Taylor Hess 3-4, Maddie Urhahn 2-2.

------

Notre Dame 7, Sikeston 1

Sikeston 100 000 0 -- 1 1 4

Notre Dame 031 003 X -- 7 11 0

WP -- Nikki Peters. LP -- Madison Smith. HR -- Maggie Shepherd (S). 2B -- Maddie Urhahn (ND) 2, Madison Landeros (ND), Maria Layton (ND). Multiple hitters -- Notre Dame: Christina Scherer 2-3, Maria Landeros 2-4, Maddie Urhahn 3-4.

------

Poplar Bluff 5, Saxony Lutheran 4

Poplar Bluff 000 50 -- 5 5 2

Saxony Lutheran 021 01 -- 4 7 4

WP -- Shelby Sievers. LP -- Ashley Steck. 3B -- Macy Coleman (PB). 2B -- Gracie King (PB). Multiple hitters -- Saxony Lutheran: Kelli Brunke 2-3, Natalie Schlimpert 2-3, Ashlynn Collier 2-3.