“IT WAS CRAZY” – Calhoun’s Kallal hits 7 homers in 3 games Saturday at Beardstown – Alton Telegraph

Lucy Kallal’s day at the Beardstown Tournament could not possibly get any better.

Then it did.

Then it did, again.

In the first of Calhoun’ three games Saturday in Beardstown, Kallal hit a pair of solo homers while going 3-for-4 in the Warriors’ 7-3 victory over Springfield.

In Game 2, Kallal hit two home runs with five RBIs in the Warriors’ 12-0 four-inning victory over the host Beardstown Tigers. “It was crazy,” the sophomore said.

It got crazier in Game 3 when Kallal answered those career games by topping them both with three homers and seven RBIs in Calhoun’s 15-0 three-inning championship victory over the Carthage Illini West Chargers.

After being shut out on two hits Friday in a 2-0 defeat to Auburn, Saturday’s three-game sweep gave Calhoun the tourney championship while pushing its record to 9-3.

Sydney Baalman pitched two games for the Warriors, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out 18 in seven innings against Beardstown and Illini West. Holly Baalman went the distance to beat the Senators, yielding three unearned runs on two hits, no walks and three strikeouts in seven innings.

Holly Baalman hit two homers, and Ella Sievers and Autumn Brananan each hit one, in an 11-home run Saturday for Calhoun.

But the day was owned by Kallal.

“I’ve been playing and coaching this game a long time,” Calhoun coach Duane Sievers said. “I’ve never seen one individual ever have a day like that. … To come out and have three games like that is unbelievable.”

It would taken far less than seven home runs for Kallal to consider it an unbelievable day. “After like two,” she said, before rethinking, “not even that. … Last year, I always bunted to get on base. Now, I guess I’m considered a power hitter.”

From 10 plate appearances Saturday, Kallal went 8-for-9 with the seven homers and 14 RBIs. The power surge came only a week after her only career home run in her first 47 games with the Warriors. Kallal’s batting average jumped from .385 to .515 with eight homers and 22 RBIs 12 games into the season.

The No. 3 hitter in the lineup, Kallal’s day began by popping out to shortstop in the first inning against Springfield. Her next three at-bats wen solo homer, solo homer, bunt single.

Kallal’s first at-bat against Beardstown brought a two-run homer. After putting down a sacrifice bunt in the third inning – “That was on my own,” she said. “The situation was good for a bunt.” – Kallal came back with a three-run homer in a nine-run fourth that ended the game.

From the only two of nine successive plate appearances that did not result in a home run, Kallal bunted to move runners along despite no bunt sign from the third-base coach’s box. “Those,” Sievers said with a laugh, “did not come from me.”

Still, the Warriors coach appreciated Kallal’s team-first thinking during a day that could have had Kallal thinking me first.

“That’s something our team is going to stress all year,” Sievers said. “Get a runner on, move them over and then try to get a hit. I guess that was in the back of her mind during the midst of her hot streak. But that kind of thinking is good for our team.”

But there would be no more bunting for Kallal in the title game against an Illini West team that came in at 11-1. Kallal drove in Sydney Baalman and Sophie Lorton with a three-run homer in the first inning. The Warriors batted around and Kallal was up again in the first with Baalman and Lorton again on base for another Kallal three-run shot. No. 7 came in the third inning with Kallal’s leadoff homer and her epic afternoon was complete.

“It was nuts,” Kallal said of the reaction from her teammates. “They were all like, wow, what did you eat for breakfast?”