Prep softball: Avah Moriarty gets L-P bats rolling against Alyssa Wilkerson, Sycamore

SYCAMORE – Two strikes, two out, two on and La Salle-Peru was still trying to figure out Sycamore starter Alyssa Wilkerson.

Avah Moriarty solved the riddle.

“I knew she was pitching outside so I scooted in,” Moriarty said. “I drove it that way. I was kind of nervous but I hit it.”

—  La Salle-Peru's Avah Moriarty

The Cavaliers senior laced a ball into left field, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning for a lead L-P wouldn’t surrender in a 5-1 Interstate 8 Conference win over the Spartans on Tuesday.

“I knew she was pitching outside, so I scooted in,” Moriarty said. “I drove it that way. I was kind of nervous, but I hit it.”

Wilkerson cruised through the first three innings for the Spartans. She was staked to a 1-0 lead when Sycamore’s Tia Durst doubled and ended up on third after an error, then scored on an errant throw to the mound from the catcher.

But the Spartans (8-2, 1-2 I-8) ran into some defensive problems of their own in the fourth. Taylor Martyn reached on an error, then Ava Lannen singled, with each moving up a base on a second Sycamore fielding error.

Wilkerson got the next two batters, but Moriarty came through with her big single and ended up scoring an insurance run on a single by Callie Mertes.

“Avah is real consistent,” L-P coach Randy Huebbe said. “She got injured yesterday, got two stitches on her nose, came back in today and had a great game.”

The Cavaliers (10-1, 2-0) added two runs in the seventh, with Lannen driving in two, of which only one was earned.

Sycamore committed errors in two innings – the two innings in which the Cavaliers scored. La Salle-Peru didn’t score in the five innings in which the Spartans did not commit an error.

“You can’t do that against a really, really good team,” Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said. “As hot as our bats have been against some average pitching and some better-than-average pitching, this was better than average, and it’s hard to come back from even just two runs.”

The Spartans had scored 54 runs in the four games since they were shut out by Ottawa, which along with L-P is expected to contend for the Interstate 8 crown.

Carpenter said there were some solid at-bats by the Spartans that just didn’t end with hits.

“We have to find a way to put the ball in play,” Carpenter said. “And against the quality pitching, that is obviously exponentially harder. ... We have to continue to make adjustments. If you’re going to go up there and do the same thing over and over, it’s probably not going to work out for us.”

Chloe Mitchell picked up the win, allowing only the unearned run. She allowed three hits and struck out 10.

“She followed up what she did down in South Carolina very well,” Huebbe said. “She gave them that one early with some mistakes there, but they’re fundamental. They’re going to score. To hold them to one is really good.”

Wilkerson allowed one earned run in seven innings along with seven hits. She walked one and struck out five.

Both teams face a schedule loaded with conference games this week, including the Cavs having a showdown with Ottawa on Friday after a game against Morris.

“We have some pretty big games coming up,” Moriarty said. “This gives us a boost now that we’ve beat them.”