JERSEY – Triad’s girls softball team won its 10th game on Monday, April 21, 2025, with a 5-4 win over Jersey in nine innings.
The Knights lost their previous contest on April 18, 2025, to Edwardsville 4-1.
Hess was the winning pitcher against Jersey. She was hitting .457 for the season after the Edwardsville contest.
Jersey tied the game with the Knights in the bottom of the sixth by scoring all four of their runs, but Triad plated the winning run in the top of the ninth to take the win on the road.
Addi Jones had three hits for the Knights, while Addison Hagerty had two hits and three RBIs, and both Kenzie Sievers and Delaney Hess had two hits each. Abby Harper had five strikeouts in the circle, while Hess fanned three.
Paxton Weirich had two hits for the Panthers, while Kamryn Drainer hit a three-run homer for her only hit and RBIs, and Holly Brainerd had a hit and RBI. Weirich also struck out 11 inside the circle, while Brainerd fanned two.
Triad is now 10-6, while Jersey goes to 5-6-1.
Tigers’ Nelson Was Formidable Foe For Knights
The Knights knew that going against Edwardsville hurler Riley Nelson would be a difficult task, but Triad still hung in and did what they could.
“Well, we knew that facing Riley was going to be a challenge for us,” said Triad head coach Kris Kleeman, “because she has a good repertoire of pitches, like she can go inside and outside, and throw things for strikes, and she had us off-balance. Hitting is about timing, and she did a fantastic job of disrupting our timing. Having said that, we didn’t get some hits, right? We just couldn’t string them together. We really need to put them together, rather than have a hit, the first lead-off batter, and then, the third lead-off batter. So, we have to do some things like that.”
The Knights did play well on most levels against the Tigers, especially defensively, picking off a runner at third, and turning three double plays.
“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Kleeman said. “I told the girls after the game that I did see a lot of good things. We had the pickoff at third, we got a double play. Error-wise, we had one error that did not matter in the grand scheme of the score. So, defensively, super proud of how we played. Offensively, we need to be able to adjust at the plate a little bit better than what we did today.”
Triad is having a good season, and will be reckoned with at the season goes along towards the IHSA Class 3A playoffs later in May and June.
Competition is the Mississippi Valley Conference isn’t getting any easier for the Knights as well.
“No,” Kleeman said. “The Valley is, well, like the Southwestern Conference, right? I mean, everybody in there can play ball, and on any given day, it’s the team that going to play the best is going to win, kind of like today. Can you make an argument that Edwardsville’s better than Triad? Maybe yes, maybe no. But Edwardsville played better today.”
Kleeman took time to give a shout out to the Tigers and Panthers coaches and programs after the split.
Triad resumes action at Highland for a 4:30 p.m. matchup on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, and at Centralia on Friday, April 25, 2025.
