The Erie-Prophetstown softball team entered Thursday’s nonconference home matchup against Morrison with 21 home runs under their belts. In its three previous wins, E-P scored 51 runs.

Fillies junior pitcher Ava Duncan made sure the big hit eluded the Panthers.

Duncan held E-P to five singles and a double, escaped a few jams and struck out 11 in the 6-2 win to close the regular season.

“My first approach is get ahead. I love getting ahead,” Duncan said. “If 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.

“I know that batter is mine now.”

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.

“I think really trusting my defense,” she said of navigating the jams. “I’ve 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’ll get it the next time.”

Duncan had at least one strikeout in all seven innings while the offense got some breathing room in the sixth inning.

Paisley Bush’s hustle to first helped lead to an error as Peyton Lowery scored. Bella Scachette added an RBI double to make it 6-2.

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.

Morrison (16-6) also took advantage of E-P’s defensive miscues and scored three unearned runs.

“We have struggled with getting on early, but we knew we wanted this game,” Duncan said. “And we passed the bat. We have people that maybe haven’t played all season, and they came up their senior year and they’re hitting the ball.”

The Fillies had five walks against E-P starter Wynn Renkes, who left after five outs and two runs (one earned) allowed.

Ayden Klendworth went the rest of the way, striking out four and walking one in 5⅔ innings with eight hits allowed.

“We had some costly errors that resulted in some runs,” E-P coach Jessie Russell said. “We kind of just came out flat and just couldn’t recover from that.”

Ava Grawe (one double) and Lilly Swatos had RBIs for the Panthers (14-11), who had just two walks against Duncan.

“Overall, we need to attack the ball,” Russell said. “Duncan had a nice game.”

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.

“It’s great to see a nice pitcher like that,” Russell said, “and be able to make adjustments.”

After E-P started the game with two singles, the Panthers did not have two straight batters reach again.

“We couldn’t string anything together,” Russell said. “We couldn’t produce the runners when we needed to.

“We need to stick to the plan and make sure that we’re still attacking the ball when we can and things will come for us. That’s kind of been our bread and butter.”

Morrison coach Larry Rice said the team was prepared for a good-hitting team.

“Our plan was to disrupt the timing of the hitters as much as we could, and Ava’s gift is certainly her changeup,” he said. “It affected them quite a bit, but they made adjustments too.”

Rice said Duncan consistently getting ahead in the count was key.

“When she worked ahead, she could expand the strike zone, and then we had more options,” he said. “We had some defensive errors, and then Ava found ways to get out of those. It’s just a testament to who she is.”

Morrison also had contributions throughout the lineup.

“We definitely had timely hitting today,” Rice said. “We’ve struggled in that category. We’ve had a fair amount of hits in games, we just couldn’t string them together. I moved the lineup just a little bit.”

Rice said Lowery is a key player that has stepped up and exceeded his expectations.

“Peyton Lowery has made us just deeper offensively,” he said. “We have more strength in our bottom, and it’s great to see.”

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.

“That was a joy,” Rice said. “I know our team was thrilled to see her again.”

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Morrison’s Peyton Lowery slides in safe at second as Erie-Prophetstown’s Laken Renkes goes for the the tag Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Alex T. Paschal)