Lady Coalers rally for regional title

The Lady Coaler softball team rallied from a 5-0 deficit Friday to defeat Bishop McNamara 7-5 to claim the regional championship.
“It was a total team winm,” praised Coal City coach Rodney Monbrum. “I'm so proud of our girls as players 1 through 9 contributed and it was a full 7 inning battle.”
The visiting Irish scored three runs right off the bat and added two more in the second thanks to a home run by their lead off batter T.McCue.
But the Lady Coalers came alive in the bottom of the third thanks to Madalyn Petersen line shot that cleared the centerfield fence allowing DArcy Ness and Juliana Covington to score making it 5-3.
Coal City then provided the defense for pitcher Masyn Kuder who silenced Bishop Mac the rest of the way. Kuder kept her guessing with several off-speed pitches including strikes. She surrendered nine hits and five runs while walking two and striking out six.
“Kuder threw a heck of a game and gave us a chance to win. It was an emotional one and one of my all time favorite sports moments,” Monbrum added.
Coal City never gave up, tying it up in the bottom of the sixth when Addison Hodgen and Ness got on base. That when’s Covington tripled down the leftfield line, allowing both to score to make it 6-5.
Petersen came through with a line drive to right, scoring Covington. They topped it off with a big single by Kaycee Graf to score Petersen.
Petersen (4 RBIs), Ness and Graf all finished with two hits each. Addison Hodgen, Kuder and Covington had the remaining hits as the Lady Coalers improve to 20-12 as they advance to the Seneca sectional last night against the hosts who won the Bismarck regional 9-0 over Lexington.
If the Lady Coalers defeated Seneca they will play for the sectional championship against Beecher vs. Prairie Central on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
In the regional semifinal the Lady Coalers ousted Joliet Catholic 14-4 in six innings.
Coal City was up 5-2 after four innings when they erupted for six runs in the fifth to secure the win.
Graf went 3-for-4 including a double for three RBIs while Harvey had a pair of hits and two walks for three RBIs. Sierra Anderson, Hodgen and Kuder had two hits each.
Kuder was stellar in the circle, striking out six while giving up four runs off eight hits and three walks.