EFFINGHAM — Eighteen up. Eighteen down.
Teutopolis pitcher Alyssa Tipton tossed a perfect game against the St. Anthony Bulldogs in the annual Cross Creek Classic softball game at Evergreen Hollow Park last Friday. The Lady Shoes won the game, 10-0, for their second-straight Cross Creek Classic title.
“We’ve been rivals for years; we created this game so that it could hype up the atmosphere,” head coach Crystal Tipton said. “Any time you can win against a rival team, it’s a good feeling.”
Alyssa Tipton had a good feeling about the way she was throwing the entire night.
She struck out 11 batters in her six innings of work. Alyssa threw 76 pitches, 50 for strikes.
“Alyssa’s throwing really well,” Crystal Tipton said. “She has certain pitches that haven’t been working, so we’ve battled with those, but I thought today, a lot of them were working.”
T-Town (18-6) got on the board first in the bottom of the second inning.
“That’s so huge for a team and for a pitcher,” said Crystal Tipton of the early run support. “It helps that pitcher settle down a little bit and they can focus on what they’re doing.”
Chloe Hoene led off the frame with a double.
Kylie Borries then grounded out, allowing courtesy runner Lexi Hoene to move to third.
Olivia Wermert then drove in the first run on a sacrifice fly to right.
Then, after a scoreless third, Jersey Gaddis started the fourth with a walk. Malea Helmink then hit a single.
Chloe Hoene then hit an RBI single, scoring Gaddis, to make it 2-0.
The Lady Shoes then scored four runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Mallory Bloemer started the fifth with a walk. Lauryn Shue then doubled.
Bloemer scored after a sacrifice bunt by Kera Hartke before Gaddis hit an RBI single.
Helmink then flew out for the second out of the inning.
Chloe Hoene then hit a single to put runners on first and second.
Borries then drew a walk to load the bases.
Wermert followed with a two-run single before Alyssa Tipton struck out to end the frame.
T-Town scored all four of its runs in the sixth with two outs.
Bloemer popped out to start the frame. Shue then grounded out.
Hartke singled and advanced to third after an error.
Gaddis then hit an RBI single.
Helmink followed with a walk. Chloe Hoene did the same.
Borries then ended the game with a two-run single to right field.
Chloe Hoene finished with three hits (one double) and one RBI.
“Chloe has been huge for us. She’s really worked on pitch selection and where to take the pitches coming to her,” Crystal Tipton said. “I’m really proud of her.”
“We were watching the pitcher warm up and we knew she had a high ball and you had to lay off of it and wait for your pitch,” Chloe Hoene added.
Gaddis had two hits, two RBI and three runs scored. Hartke had one hit, one RBI and one run scored. Helmink had one hit and one run scored. Borries had one hit and one RBI. Shue had one hit (one double) and one run scored. Bloemer had one run scored and Lexi Hoene had three runs scored.
Wermert added one hit and three RBI.
“Olivia has really good approaches at the plate,” Crystal Tipton said. “She does a really good job.”
Both teams have split the series in the past four years.
Helmink knew she wanted to make her last Cross Creek Classic enjoyable by winning in only one fashion.
“We wanted to make this enjoyable and try and run-rule them this year,” she said.
Nancy Ruholl pitched for St. Anthony (11-8).
She allowed 10 hits, 10 runs (eight earned) and five walks to one strikeout over 5 2/3 innings. Ruholl threw 117 pitches, 68 for strikes.
Despite the loss, head coach Makayla Taylor did like her team’s approach.
“When you first start the game, tensions are high and everyone is excited. I thought we had really good approaches the first three [trips to the plate] and our defense on the infield was solid,” Taylor said.