Weppler slams door on Chargers’ rally, helps Blue Devils pick up road victory

CARTHAGE, Ill. — With the tying runs in scoring position and no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday, Izzy Weppler showed her moxie.

The Quincy High School softball team’s left-handed sophomore hurler left both runners stranded as she struck out two of the final three batters to preserve a 5-3 victory over Illini West.

The Blue Devils took a 5-2 lead into the seventh inning before the Chargers’ Corin Robinson led off with a single and ended up at third base on a fielding error. AJ Cook followed with an RBI single up the middle and took third when Kate DeSotel doubled.

Weppler was unfazed, striking out Kennedy Gunning, inducing a lineout to center field by Lexis Carle and striking out Bliss to end the game.

Quincy (8-17) staked Weppler to a two-run lead in the top of the first inning as Ivy Winter singled leading off the game and scored on Maggie Neally’s two-out single. An error led to the Blue Devils’ other run. Illini West (10-18) got a run back in the bottom of the first, but Quincy extended its lead to 3-1 in the third on Neally’s two-out RBI double.

The lead was pushed to 5-2 in the fourth as Winter delivered an RBI triple and scored on Ariana Adorno’s sacrifice fly.

Weppler struck out six, walked six and allowed eight hits in earning the victory. Neally finished 3 for 4, while Winter had two hits. Bliss, Robinson and Natalie Wibbell each had two hits for the Chargers.