Riley Nelson Dominates With 10 Strikeouts In Edwardsville’s Shutout Softball Win

EDWARDSVILLE – Riley Nelson pitched magnificently, striking out 10 and allowing only four hits, while both Lily Stone and Sophie Antonini drove in two runs each as Edwardsville’s softball team won over Belleville West 8-0 in a Southwestern Conference game Tuesday afternoon, May 6, 2025, at the Edwardsville District 7 Sports Complex.

The game served as the annual fund-raiser for cancer awareness, as the two sides raised much money for cancer research, and survivors, friends, and family members were saluted during the game.

The Tigers were able to take advantage of a pair of Maroon errors in the second and third innings, which led to two unearned runs scoring, helping Edwardsville go ahead 5-0.

Edwardsville head coach Caty Happe said: “To hold a West team to zero runs is obviously a big deal. So, always good to see, and that the first time through the lineup I thought we really made adjustments, and were able to score runners.”

The fact that the Tigers took advantage of the West errors to score was a key part of the game.

“Obviously, we want to make sure we are hitting ground balls and line drives,” Happe said, “and early on, we were hitting a lot of pop-ups, giving them opportunities to get under it, so making those adjustments just helped get runners on, and keep moving them over.”

Nelson put on another dominant show in the circle, keeping the Marron hitters off-balance with her arsenal of pitches.

“Riley was Riley,” Happe said. “She had lots of strikeouts today, and made adjustments when she needed to.’”

Nelson's performance may very well have been one of her better ones of the season.

“Well, she may be a little harder on herself than,” Happe said. “Just finding ways to get outs, even when her best pitches aren’t working, which is a cool thing out of a pitcher.”

And it couldn’t happen at a better time, with the IHSA Class 4A playoff coming soon, and the remainder of the conference season still to be played.

“A busy three weeks ahead of us,” Happe said, “hopefully, to get us prepared for the postseason, and put us in the best possible situation. You have to love the SWC.”

The Maroons started off well, leading off the game when Daijah Jackson drew a walk, and went to second on a sacrifice, but was thrown out at third attempting to steal by Werden, who made a good throw. In the second, Charli Coppernoll led off with a single, but was doubled off first, when Werden made a good catch on a bunt attempt by Tayler McCaster, and threw to first to double off Coppernoll.

The Tigers scored a run in the second when, with one out, Amelia Wilfong reached on an error, was sacrificed to third, and scored on a RBI single by Maggie Bray. In the third, the Tigers extended their lead, starting with Brooke Burris walked, and went to third on an error on an Antonelli hit, Antonelli moving to second. Nelson’s sacrifice fly to right scored Burris, with Antonelli scoring on a double by Audrey De La Torre Cruz to make it 3-0. She went to third on a base hit by Wilfong one out later, and both runners scored on a double to the fence by Stone to make it 5-0.

After that, Kramer settled in and pitched well, setting down six in a row and allowing only a single by Grace Oertle. Nelson, meanwhile, struck out four in a row, and allowed a triple by Jackson to lead off the fourth, but she was thrown out at the plate when Nelson made an alert play on a nubber hit by Ella Weaver. After that, Nelson only allowed two hits and two walks the rest of the way.

The Tigers scored their final runs in the sixth, starting with hits by Stone and Maksine Straub, with Marissa Wiley singling in Stone, and Antonini driving in both Stroud and Wiley to make it 8-0. Nelson then only gave up a two-out walk and single to end the game in favor of Edwardsville 8-0.

Both Antonini and Stone had two hits and two RBIs each for the Tigers, while Bray had a hit and an RBI, and Oertle, De La Torre Cruz, Straub, Wiley, and Wilfong all had hits, and Madi Kolakowski also had an RBI.

Jackson had two hits for the Maroons, while Coppernoll and Addison Geluck had the other hits, and Kramer went all the way in the circle, allowing eight runs, six earned, on 11 hits, walking two and striking out three.

The Tiger defense helped bail out Edwardsville in the opening two innings. Catcher Remi Werden threw out a runner trying to steal third and turned a double play after catching a pop-up in the next inning.

The Tigers go to 18-4, and host Alton Thursday at 4:30 p.m., then play at a tournament in Pontiac, playing the hosts on Friday at 5 p.m. then play twice on Saturday, meeting Lemont at 10 a.m., then St. Charles North at 1:30 p.m.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story

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