By Fred Kroner
Villa Grove fell short in the championship game of its own Class 1A softball regional on Friday (May 20), dropping a 10-4 decision to Meridian.
Alison Pangburn and Alex Brown each provided two hits for the Blue Devils. Pangburn powered a double and a triple.
Chloe Reardon and Maci Clodfelder each ended with one hit.
Clodfelder scored two of her team’s runs. Pangburn and Emma Bratten-Noice each tallied one run.
Brown, Reardon and Addie Wilson each drove in one run.
Brown (12-8) pitched 4 1/3 innings and took the loss. She walked one and struck out one.
Bratten-Noice worked the final 1 2/3 innings, allowing one hit and no runs. She fanned one batter.
Villa Grove finishes the season with a 19-14 record.
Arbuckle was the team’s lone senior.
The Blue Devils had eight .300 hitters for the season, led by Pangburn (.436).
Other team batting leaders were Lillard (.429), Clodfelder (.413), Madison Hinds (.406), Brown (.400), Bratten-Noice (.348), Arbuckle (.329) and Reardon (.325).
Brown led VG in doubles (15), Pangburn led in triples (5) and Clodfelder led in home runs (school-record 12).
Pangburn led in total hits (51), runs scored (50), runs batted in (35) and stolen bases (12).
Pangburn and Clodfelder shared the team-lead in multi-hit games with 13.
Brown was the pitching leader, appearing in 24 games and working 122 innings. She struck out 129 batters and had a 12-8 record. Her ERA was 4.02.
Bratten-Noice finished with a 3-2 record and Lillard was 4-4.
