Lincoln Girls Secure State Softball Berth

GREENLAND — Lincoln defeated Danville 10-0 Friday behind Brinkley Moreton’s one-hitter and 13 strike outs in the 3A Region 1 softball tournament at Greenland.

Moreton homered sending a solid line drive out of the park in her first at-bat to give Lincoln an early 1-0 lead.

“I felt it off the bat. It was a pretty good hit,” Moreton said.

Lincoln coach Brittany Engel didn’t know if Danville would pitch to Moreton after the first inning home run.

“They were trying to walk her after that, but I figured they wouldn’t with people on base and it worked out for us,” Engel said.

Engel acknowledged the Lady Wolves struggled a little bit at the plate but said that was to be expected because this was their first game of the week and due to weather they hadn’t been outside all week.

“It’s been a little rough, but I think we’re good to go now. We just got that one out of the way and we’re going to state,” Engel said.

All total Moreton drove in three runs for Lincoln (27-5), which earned a berth in the Class 3A State tournament at Harrison this week with the win. Her final hit, a double in the fifth inning, ended the game by driving in a pair of runs.

In between those two stellar moments, her teammates were pretty good, too. Lincoln held a 1-0 lead through the first two innings. In the third Ryleigh Landrum led off with a double and Moreton walked. Saylor Stidham laid down a bunt single to load the bases but the next two batters were put out on a pop-up and a strike out.

Sensing a key moment, Kristen Rhine maintained her composure after taking a called strike to even the count at 2-2. On the next pitch she stroked a bases clearing double giving the Lady Wolves a 4-0 cushion.

“I was just thinking I had to get those three runs in to pick up my team. It felt great when I hit it,” Rhine said.

Lincoln looked sharp defensively. Rhine made a pair of force outs by fielding ground balls at first and Moreton fielded a bunt and threw a runner out.

“Our bunt defense looked really clean today and that’s really good. That’s what we’ve been working on this week since we’ve been inside. I knew that people would bunt on us a lot since they were struggling to hit off Brinkley and so it paid off,” Engel said.

Alexandra Torres led off the fourth by tripling into right center and scored on a passed ball to up the advantage to 5-0.

At the beginning of the fifth, Danville coach Deanna Spears urged her squad to pick it up in the batter’s box.

“Quit letting it literally go by you, no more strike outs,” Spears said.

That proved easier said than done as Moreton held them in check striking out three straight after the leadoff hitter reached on an error.

Lincoln’s Amber Bryant smashed a triple into right field to start the fifth. She scored on Lily Riherd’s bunt single. Rhine and Addie Pershall both walked. Torres drove in Lincoln’s eighth run with a sacrifice fly and Moreton finished off the Little Johns with her two-run double to get the 10-0 run rule victory.

“It was very aggressive base running. It helps that we were hitting them down the line and in the gaps. They’re very heads up when running bases which is good and they look for me and find me and go when I tell them to go,” Engel said.

Lincoln hadn’t played many games on turf this season, but adapted well and now goes on to state competition.

“It feels great, the feeling is pure excitement, pure joy. We’ve worked so hard to get there and I didn’t want to come up short,” Engel said.