By: The bats were lively for IC on Monday, but the team struggled in the field and gave the Panthers extra outs.
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team had eight hits and six runs in each of its two games on Monday afternoon against Greenville College, but unfortunately the defense of the Lady Blues couldn't hold up their end of the bargain. IC committed a combined seven errors in the doubleheader, giving Greenville plenty of chances to cash in. The result was a 7-6 defeat in the first game and a 9-6 loss in the second – a game that was shortened by an inning due to darkness.
Illinois College falls to 5-9 on the season with the two losses, while Greenville ups its record to 11-4. The Lady Blues were scheduled to play a doubleheader against Westminster College (Mo.) on March 31, but due to a scheduling snafu, those games have been cancelled with no make-up date. IC is next in action on April 3 with a MWC doubleheader at Monmouth College at 1 and 3 p.m.
Game One: Greenville 7, Illinois College 6A tight battle through three innings was blown open by Greenville in the fourth and fifth frames, only for Illinois College to make a game of it late and nearly steal the win. The Panthers were up, 6-1, after their turn at the plate in the fifth inning, but the Lady Blues kept battling and pulled to within one run in the bottom of the seventh before Greenville could seal it.
Amanda Price got off to a rough start in the first inning, allowing the first three runners to reach and falling behind, 1-0, before retiring three in a row to end the side. The Lady Blues answered back in the bottom of the second as
Paige Hughey drove in a run on a groundout with the bases loaded to knot the score at 1-1.
Greenville took the lead back for good in the fourth inning. The Lady Blues started the frame with errors on the first two Panther batters. With two runners in scoring position, a grounder to
Emily Hawkins at shortstop gave Greenville the lead as the runners were off on contact. The next batter, Tiffany Samsoe, homered to increase the Panther advantage to 4-1.
The lead grew again in the fifth inning when Greenville drove in a pair of baserunners with two away, but Illinois College was able to escape any further damage by leaving the bases loaded.
The Lady Blues rallied in the bottom of the fifth. Hughey started off the inning with a walk and she and
Abby Campbell both were safe on an error by Greenville starting pitcher Hannah Burger.
Courtney Kwasnitza followed that with a triple to the gap in right field that brought two runs home. The next hitter,
Sierra McDonald, drilled a frozen rope into left field that was deep enough to score Kwasnitza from third base.
Following a scoreless sixth inning, Greenville padded its lead with one run in the seventh, making it 7-4. Illinois College almost came back to tie the score in its final turn at bat.
Lanie Thompson led off the inning with a single, then came around to score when Kwasnitza doubled to right field. McDonald followed her with a single, bringing the winning run to the plate for the Lady Blues.
Betsy Wagers would be the first out of the frame, but she did bring Kwasnitza home with a RBI groundout.
Kinzie Verhines proceeded to make it around to third base with two outs in the inning, but Burger slammed the door by getting Price to pop up to end the game.
Thompson and Kwasnitza each had two hits in the game, with Kwasnitza driving in three runs. Price dropped to 4-3 on the season with the loss, striking out four and giving up four earned runs.
Game Two: Greenville 9, Illinois College 6 (6 innings)Both offenses were clicking in the opening stages of the day's second game, but Greenville continued to pound Illinois College pitching throughout the game, while the Lady Blues were stifled by Panther starting pitcher Becca Oldham as the game went along.
Greenville scored two on Thompson in the top of the first inning, though Andrea Martin would be tagged out at home for the third out of the inning as she tried to come all the way around for an inside-the-park home run. Illinois College took advantage of a Panther miscue in the bottom of the inning as Thompson walked, stole second and then scored on an error by the shortstop to cut the deficit in half.
Oldham led off the second inning with a solo shot to the deepest part of the park to reestablish a two-run lead for the Panthers, but it would prove to be short-lived.
Brittany Fanella reached second in her first trip to the plate in the bottom of the inning thanks to an error by the second baseman.
Samantha Hereley followed her with a blazing line drive into right field to score Fanella. Hereley and Verhines were both in scoring position with one away and Thompson tied the game at 3-3 with a sacrifice fly into left.
With two down in the inning, the speedy Kwasnitza tapped a ball down the first base line, beating the throw for a single. Verhines was hustling all the way and scored from second, while Kwasnitza alertly moved up when the throw went home. McDonald then doubled to score Kwasnitza and give the Lady Blues a 5-3 lead after two.
The score would remain there until the fourth inning, when Danielle Helms homered with one on to bring the game level at 5-5. The Panthers continued to string together hits and took a 7-5 lead before Illinois College could get the third out. Things got worse in the fifth inning when Greenville was able to score two more runs without getting a hit. The Lady Blues had three errors in the inning as well as a pair of walks, making things easy on the Panther bats.
Elyce Trout tried to spark the Lady Blues, leading off the fifth with a triple. She scored when the Greenville catcher failed to execute a throw back to the pitcher. That turned out to be as close as IC could get. Oldham retired the next five batters and the game was called after the sixth due to darkness.
Kwasnitza, Trout and Hereley each had two hits in the game for Illinois College. Thompson fell to 1-3 in defeat.
