Lady Blues Take Opener from Millikin

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team took one of two in its doubleheader with Millikin University on Thursday afternoon at Kamp Softball Field. The Lady Blues took a 4-2 decision in the opener, but were defeated by the Big Blue, 10-8, to close out the afternoon. IC moves to 10-15 on the season.

The home stand continues this weekend for the Lady Blues, who host a pair of Midwest Conference doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. First up for IC is a meeting with Cornell College on April 18, starting at 1 p.m.

Game 1: Illinois College 4, Millikin 2
Behind a complete game from freshman Lanie Thompson, the Lady Blues got off to a good start with a 4-2 victory over the Big Blue. After falling behind in the top of the first inning, IC scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first and second innings to grab a lead that it wouldn't give up.

Millikin put runners on second and third with one out in the first inning, but Thompson slowed down a line drive hit hard up the middle and Emily Hawkins made the putout to save a run, though the Big Blue were able to score one run on the play. The inning then ended with Betsy Wagers catching a fly ball in right field to keep it at 1-0.

The first batter of the game for Illinois College was Courtney Kwasnitza, who doubled off the wall in right field. Brittany Fanella moved her along on a bunt single and a well-executed double steal scored Kwasnitza to tie the game up at 1-1. With two outs in the inning, Hawkins doubled to left-center to bring Kinzie Verhines in for a 2-1 lead. 

Following a 1-2-3 inning in the second from the IC defense, the top of the order did more damage in the bottom half. Kwasnitza kept the inning alive with two down and Fanella pounded a home run out over the wall in right field to make it 4-1.

The Lady Blues maintained a three-run advantage until the fifth when the Big Blue scraped one run across. With the tying run at the plate, Thompson induced a fly ball to foul territory in left that was snagged by Fanella to end the threat.

In the sixth inning, Kwasnitza threw out a base runner to strand a Big Blue runner on third and Thompson ended the game in the seventh, giving up just a two-out walk along the way.

With the victory, Thompson went to 4-4 on the season. Kwasnitza, Fanella and Hawkins all ended with a pair of hits in the game.

Game Two: Millikin 10, Illinois College 8
Illinois College fell behind, 6-0, after the top of the third inning, but rallied all the way back to tie the game at 8-8 going into the seventh before falling short. The Big Blue had 15 hits in the game, but tried to give the game away with seven errors in the field.

Millikin scored twice in the first inning before a two-run double started a three-run second inning to give the Big Blue a 5-0 lead. Millikin added one more run in the top of the third, but the Lady Blues came back with a run of their own in the bottom half after an error from the Big Blue allowed Kwasnitza to come in to score.

IC continued its comeback in the fourth inning on a Samantha Hereley RBI single to plate Mickalah York. Kwasnitza followed with a RBI groundout to score DJ Troli, making it 6-3.

Millikin added two more runs in the fifth inning to re-establish a five-run cushion at 8-3 and the score stayed there until the bottom of the sixth. Helped by three Big Blue errors in the inning, Illinois College scored five times, the biggest hit a Sierra McDonald single that turned into three Lady Blues runs after a throwing error from the right fielder went into the IC dugout. The next hitter, Elyce Trout, hit a hard liner off the glove of the Millikin shortstop to bring in another run to tie the score at 8-8.

Leah Shumaker got the first two Millikin hitters in the top of the seventh, but ran into trouble from there and the Big Blue were able to scratch across a pair of runs to retake a 10-8 lead. The Lady Blues brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh, but couldn't get anything across and ended with a hard-fought loss.

Kwasnitza and McDonald each had three hits in the game for Illinois College. Hawkins and Hereley added two hits apiece.