E-P<\/a> to five singles and a double, escaped a few jams and struck out 11 in the 6-2 win to close the regular season.<\/p>\n\u201cMy first approach is get ahead. I love getting ahead,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cIf I find that first strike, then I start moving the ball, spinning the ball, throwing changeups. As soon as I get those two strikes, I own that batter. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know that batter is mine now.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a leadoff hit or runner getting into scoring position, Duncan and the defense locked in. She got a groundout to end the fifth inning with two runners in scoring position and a 4-2 lead. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think really trusting my defense,\u201d she said of navigating the jams. \u201cI\u2019ve struggled this season with walking people. I need to turn it over to my defense. They have their mess-ups, but I know they have my back and they\u2019ll get it the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duncan had at least one strikeout in all seven innings while the offense got some breathing room in the sixth inning.<\/p>\n
Paisley Bush\u2019s hustle to first helped lead to an error as Peyton Lowery scored. Bella Scachette added an RBI double to make it 6-2. <\/p>\n
Scachette had two hits and two RBIs. Elle Milnes (one RBI) had two singles and a triple, and Lowery had two doubles. Caylee Bramm also had an RBI and scored a run. <\/p>\n
![\"Morrison’s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6AXYBABWANBSTJ7VFIU7WOUUZE.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Morrison\u2019s Bella Scachette makes the catch against Erie-Prophetstown Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Alex T. Paschal)<\/p>\n
Morrison (16-6) also took advantage of E-P\u2019s defensive miscues and scored three unearned runs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have struggled with getting on early, but we knew we wanted this game,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cAnd we passed the bat. We have people that maybe haven\u2019t played all season, and they came up their senior year and they\u2019re hitting the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fillies had five walks against E-P starter Wynn Renkes, who left after five outs and two runs (one earned) allowed. <\/p>\n
Ayden Klendworth went the rest of the way, striking out four and walking one in 5\u2154 innings with eight hits allowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had some costly errors that resulted in some runs,\u201d E-P coach Jessie Russell said. \u201cWe kind of just came out flat and just couldn\u2019t recover from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ava Grawe (one double) and Lilly Swatos had RBIs for the Panthers (14-11), who had just two walks against Duncan. <\/p>\n
![\"Erie-Prophetstown’s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/KO7WBMGJRREIHHXBJEPS5E2D6U.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Erie-Prophetstown\u2019s Ava Grawe guns down a runner at the plate against Morrison Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Alex T. Paschal)<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, we need to attack the ball,\u201d Russell said. \u201cDuncan had a nice game.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a good tuneup for both teams as the postseason begins next week. Morrison is in Class 1A and E-P is in 2A. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to see a nice pitcher like that,\u201d Russell said, \u201cand be able to make adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n
After E-P started the game with two singles, the Panthers did not have two straight batters reach again. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t string anything together,\u201d Russell said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t produce the runners when we needed to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to stick to the plan and make sure that we\u2019re still attacking the ball when we can and things will come for us. That\u2019s kind of been our bread and butter.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Morrison's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/KFWBPAPCYBFVTKXHSQX3YCDQA4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Morrison’s Paisley Bush scores against Erie-Prophetstown Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Alex T. Paschal)<\/p>\n
Morrison coach Larry Rice said the team was prepared for a good-hitting team. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur plan was to disrupt the timing of the hitters as much as we could, and Ava\u2019s gift is certainly her changeup,\u201d he said. \u201cIt affected them quite a bit, but they made adjustments too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rice said Duncan consistently getting ahead in the count was key. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she worked ahead, she could expand the strike zone, and then we had more options,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had some defensive errors, and then Ava found ways to get out of those. It\u2019s just a testament to who she is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morrison also had contributions throughout the lineup. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely had timely hitting today,\u201d Rice said. \u201cWe\u2019ve struggled in that category. We\u2019ve had a fair amount of hits in games, we just couldn\u2019t string them together. I moved the lineup just a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rice said Lowery is a key player that has stepped up and exceeded his expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeyton Lowery has made us just deeper offensively,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have more strength in our bottom, and it\u2019s great to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morrison also had another big voice in the crowd this week as Bella Duncan was in attendance after wrapping up an impressive freshman season at Western Michigan University.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a joy,\u201d Rice said. \u201cI know our team was thrilled to see her again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morrison\u2019s Peyton Lowery slides in safe at second as Erie-Prophetstown\u2019s Laken Renkes goes for the the tag Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Alex T. Paschal)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Erie-Prophetstown softball team entered Thursday\u2019s nonconference home matchup against Morrison with 21 home runs under their belts.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137,982,73299,305,85522,6357,10985],"class_list":["post-193091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-erie-prophetstown-preps","tag-girls-softball","tag-high-school-sports","tag-morrison-preps","tag-premium","tag-prep-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}