Cornell Steals One From Lady Blues

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – For 13 innings on Saturday, the Illinois College softball team did everything it needed to win, taking the first game from Cornell College by a score of 2-1 and leading, 5-2, entering the seventh inning against the Rams. Then, inexplicably, it all fell apart. Cornell scored five runs in its last turn of the plate and IC couldn't respond, falling 7-5 to walk away with a somewhat disappointing split against a strong Ram team. The Lady Blues move to 11-16 (4-7 Midwest Conference) ahead of tomorrow's doubleheader with Grinnell College at Kamp Softball Field.

Due to storms expected to sweep through the area, Illinois College and Grinnell will get its day started with a 10 a.m. start, followed by the second game at approximately 12 p.m. on Sunday. 

Game One: Illinois College 2, Cornell 1
Though up against a team that entered the day tied for the lead in the MWC's South Division, the Lady Blues were never intimidated by the Rams in the first game on Saturday afternoon, even after falling behind by a run in the top of the first inning. 

Amanda Price was able to rely on her defense throughout the game, giving up only seven hits in a complete game win. Three of those hits came in the first inning as Cornell scratched a run across on three infield singles to take a 1-0 lead immediately.

Despite facing an uphill climb with a one-run deficit against Cornell ace Jesse Applehans, the Lady Blues remained composed and Price sat the Rams down in order in both the second and third innings, with Emily Hawkins involved in four of those outs from her shortstop position.

Illinois College discovered some offensive firepower in the bottom of the third inning with Sierra McDonald launching a one-out solo home run over the fence in left field to tie the game at 1-1. With two down and Hawkins on second base, Elyce Trout doubled to right-center to bring Hawkins in for what turned out to be the game-winning run.

There was still a long way to go however, and Price was up for the challenge. Cornell could only reach in the fourth inning via a walk. In the fifth, a Price fielding error put one aboard, but Sabrina Hargis was erased from the basepaths trying to steal against catcher Courtney Kwasnitza. 

In the sixth inning, the Rams put runners on the corners with one away but Price got Brianna Carney to hit a tapper back to her in the pitcher's circle. Price fielded cleanly and threw home to Kwasnitza, who applied the tag to keep the Lady Blues ahead by a run. Hannah Knapper then snagged a ground ball and threw across the diamond to McDonald to get the third out.

Cornell again applied pressure in the top of the seventh and had runners on the corners again with one away. This time, Hargis went for a steal of second base but Hawkins snared Kwasnitza's throw short of the bag and fired to third base to get the lead runner trying to sneak towards home. With two outs and a runner on second, Price induced a game-ending ground out back to her, giving IC the hard-fought win.

The Lady Blues only had three hits off of Applehans, but timed them well with Trout finishing 2-of-3 with two doubles and McDonald ending 1-of-3 with the tying home run. Price improved her season record to 7-5 with the victory.

Game Two: Cornell 7, Illinois College 5
A clutch fourth inning from Illinois College bats put the team in position to walk away with a sweep of Cornell, but the Rams showed why they're one of the MWC favorites late in the game, putting five runs on the board to stun the Lady Blues and the home crowd.

The first two innings followed a similar arc from the opener, with Cornell putting a run on the board in each of its first two trips to the dish. Kendra Christensen gave the Rams a 1-0 lead on a RBI single in the first and Kylea Weber doubled the lead in the second on another single, taking a 2-0 lead on IC starter Lanie Thompson.

A 1-2-3 inning from Thompson in the top of the third set the stage for Illinois College to come back strong in the bottom half. Lead-off hitter Betsy Wagers singled into center field to get it started, but a misplay from Kelsey Boss allowed Wagers to hustle all the way around to third. Thompson then helped herself with a RBI single through the left side of the infield to make it 2-1. IC would eventually get runners on second and third, but Cornell clung onto the lead by getting Thompson out at home.

The big blow appeared to have come in the bottom of the fifth for Illinois College. After the first two hitters in the inning went down, there was little happening for the Lady Blues until Brittany Fanella drew a walk. From there, the floodgates opened and McDonald reached on a single to shortstop. Trout followed with a single that trickled into left field to load the bases for Kinzie Verhines. In a pressure-packed at-bat, the count ran full for Verhines and she took an offering from Cornell's Mary Baldwin and deposited it over the head of Weber in left field to bring all three runners in for a bases-clearing triple. Hawkins followed with a RBI single of her own to increase the lead to 5-2 for IC after five.

Thompson gave way to Price in the sixth and the junior retired Cornell with little trouble in the sixth. Needing three outs for the win in the seventh however, Price ran into real trouble for one of the few times all day. Cornell started the inning with consecutive singles before a walk loaded the bases and another walk brought one run into score, making it 5-3 with still no outs in the inning. Thompson was re-inserted back into the game at that point, and an immediate double play by Knapper at third base put IC back in the driver's seat, though one run did come in on the play.

With the score at 5-4 and two down, a single by Kari Martin scored Weber from second base to knot the game at 5-5. The next batter, Christensen, ended up on second after a deep fly ball to left field got away from Fanella to bring the go-ahead run around to score. Another double by Carney followed to increase the lead to 7-5 before Thompson could get Tana Kemmer to fly out to Wagers in right field.

In their last trip to the plate, the Lady Blues got the lead-off hitter, McDonald, aboard on a walk, but Applehans – back in the game in relief of Baldwin – got three straight IC batters to pop out in the infield to bring the game to a close.

It was a hard bit of luck for Thompson to take the loss after controlling the action for the first five innings. The freshman fell to 4-5 in defeat. Verhines was the leading hitter for the team, going 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs driven in.