After a thrilling 1-0 walkoff win over Mt. Carmel on Wednesday, the Carmi-White County Lady Bulldogs traveled back to Fairfield to face the host Lady Mules in the IHSA 2A Regional Championship Game on Thursday.
Mother nature did her best to rain on the Lady Bulldogs attempted parade, as the regional championship was originally scheduled for Friday but was moved to Thursday in an attempt to beat the rain.
The Lady Bulldog offense was quiet in Wednesday’s semifinal, but that wasn’t the case on Thursday.
Carmi came out hot, scoring early and often against the Lady Mules. The Lady Dogs plated 2 in the bottom of the 1st inning thanks to an RBI double from Audrey Upton and an RBI single from Alayna Johnson.
Carmi added 3 more in the 3rd inning after an RBI double from Johnson followed by an RBI double by Caroline Simmons and an RBI single from Mia Evans. Just like that it was a 5-0 Lady Bulldog lead.
Mara Serafini picked up an RBI single in the 4th inning, and then Johnson picked up her 3rd RBI of the game later in the inning, scoring Serafini. Mia Evans worked a walk to bring in another run and Carmi extended their lead to 9-0 after 4 innings, and they would go on to win by that score.
It was another dominant performance from Audrey Upton. The senior pitched all 7 innings allowing just 3 hits with 2 walks and 8 strikeouts. Upton also passed the 600 career strikeout mark in the win.
At the plate,
Addi Elliott went 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored.
Mara Serafini went 1-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored.
Audrey Upton went 2-for-4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored.
Alayna Johnson went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored.
Caroline Simmons went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Mia Evans went 1-for-3 with 2 RBI.
Kadie Simmons also picked up a base hit in the win.
The Lady Bulldogs improve to 22-6 on the season as they win their first regional championship since 2016, when Kaylea (Chappelle) Stubblefield was their ace pitcher.
Carmi advances to the Carterville Sectional where they will play either Carterville or Murphysboro next Wednesday at 4 PM.
Congratulations to Coach Stubbs and the Lady Dawgs!
