By: After giving up the lead to Carroll late in the game and losing the day’s opener, the Lady Blues were swarmed by St. Norbert in a five-inning loss.
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Box Score 2 JANESVILLE, Wis. – The Illinois College softball team had a disappointing start to the weekend at the MWC Classic, dropping a pair of games to Carroll University and St. Norbert College to open the annual crossover event. The Pioneers recorded a come-from-behind 6-5 win over IC in the day's first game. Later on, St. Norbert would pile 13 runs on the board in the opening two innings en route to an 18-2 victory in five innings over the Lady Blues.
Illinois College plays twice more on Saturday, starting with an 11 a.m. matchup against Beloit College and immediately returning to the field for a 1 p.m. encounter against Lawrence University.
Game One: Carroll 6, Illinois College 5Illinois College scored in each of the first four innings, but Carroll was able to put some crooked numbers on the scoreboard in the middle innings to tie the game before scoring once in the bottom of the sixth to earn the win.
Brittany Fanella started the game with a two-RBI single that brought
Lanie Thompson and
Sierra McDonald home in the top of the first inning. Illinois College would increase its lead to 3-0 in the second inning when
Paige Hughey walked and came around to score on a series of defensive lapses from the Pioneers.
The lead would reach four runs in the third inning as
Betsy Wagers reached on a fielder's choice and moved to second base on a wild pitch. With two outs in the inning,
Emily Hawkins singled to bring her in.
Carroll responded with three runs in the bottom of the third to get back in the ballgame. The Pioneers used four singles and an IC error to make the game 4-3 before Hughey, Hawkins and McDonald combined on a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
The Lady Blues had some more left in the tank on the offensive side of the ball in the fourth inning. Two errors from the Pioneers allowed
Hannah Knapper to reach base to open the inning. Pinch-runner
Mickalah York then reached second and was able to score on another Carroll miscue in the field.
The Pioneers came back to tie the game in the bottom half of the frame as a lead-off walk was followed by a pair of doubles to make it 5-5 going into the fifth.
A two-out double from
Courtney Kwasnitza off the outfield wall in the sixth turned into nothing for Illinois College and Carroll was able to push across the go-ahead run in its turn at the plate. A walk and two singles gave the Pioneers their first lead and Baylea Meredith was able to finish her complete game in the seventh by sitting the Lady Blues down in order.
Fanella was the lone IC player with two hits in the game.
Amanda Price fell to 5-4 on the season with the loss.
Game Two: St. Norbert 18, Illinois College 2 (five innings)As the home team for the second game of the afternoon, Illinois College was in a deep hole before it had even come to the plate. A first inning grand slam was the key in a six-run outburst from St. Norbert to take a commanding early lead.
It got worse in the second inning as the Green Knights pushed seven more runs across on five hits to up its cushion to 13-0. The Lady Blues were able to dent the scoreboard in the bottom half of that inning on a
Kinzie Verhines single to bring Fanella in from third base.
St. Norbert continued to pile on, scoring one run in the third inning, three in the fourth and one more in the fifth. During that time, Illinois College could only plate one run on Green Knights starter Haley Grunwald. Hawkins led off the fourth inning with a double to left field and
Mikayla Greenwood reached base on a throwing error by shortstop Jessica DeMeuse, scoring Hawkins.
McDonald, Wagers and
Elyce Trout had the other hits in the game for the Lady Blues. After two straight wins, Thompson fell to 3-4 on the year after struggling against the St. Norbert bats.
