JOHNSTON CITY (WSIL) � The Goreville Blackcats earned their third straight trip to the 1A state softball semifinals with an 8-1 win over Marissa-Coulterville in the Johnston City 1A Supersectional.
It’s Goreville’s fifth trip to East Peoria in the last eight years.
The Lady Blackcats grabbed a 1-0 lead three batters into the game on Kelsey Ray’s single to center that scored Lexi King. Â
Goreville extended that lead in the third. Payton Sopczak tripled in Adrianna Licka for a 2-0 lead. King followed with a blast to center, but Lady Meteors outfielder Paige Hand robbed her of two-run homer. King had to settle for a sacrifice fly scoring Sopczak for a 3-0 lead.
Marissa-Coulterville got on the board with a run in the fifth, but Goreville put it away with four in the sixth and another in the seventh.
The Lady Blackcats will now face Hardin (Calhoun) Friday at 12:30 in the second 1A semifinal.
