Blue Devils struggle defensively in loss to Lancers in Class 4A regional championship game

BELLEVILLE, Ill. — When things began unraveling for the Quincy High School softball team, there was no chance of reeling it back in.

The Blue Devils committed four errors and allowed seven unearned runs in the first two innings Saturday, leading to a 10-0 loss to top-seeded Belleville East in the championship game of the Class 4A Belleville East Regional at Rita Menke Field.

Fresh off winning their first postseason game since 2012 and seeking their first regional title since 2007, the Blue Devils (18-16) hoped the momentum from the five-inning victory over Collinsville in the regional semifinals would carry over.

It didn’t, especially in the field as they committed nine errors overall.

With two outs in the first inning, Quincy freshman third baseman Ivy Winter threw wide of first after cleanly fielding a ground ball. That allowed Belleville East’s Emma Fetters to get to second, and she scored on Ashlynn Samson’s single. Zoe Peters singled, and an error in the outfield allowed Samson to score.

In the second inning, the Lancers’ Maddie Mueller led off by reaching on an error, and after a sacrifice bunt, the next three batters reached safely on fielder’s choices that resulted in no outs. Another error allowed three runs to score before Samson collected the only RBI of the inning with a single.

Two errors led to another run in the third. An RBI double and a sacrifice fly resulted into the final two runs in the sixth.

Quincy pitchers Carlee Gilker and Storm Budde allowed three hits apiece and Budde surrendered the only walk with nine of the 10 runs being unearned. Gilker had the only strikeout.

Meanwhile, Belleville East pitcher Olivia Hemmerie allowed only one hit and no walks and struck out 11. Winter had Quincy’s only hit with a leadoff triple in the fourth inning.