By: The Lady Blues took a two-run lead after the first inning of each contest and held onto their advantage the rest of the way on Friday afternoon.
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 MONMOUTH, Ill. – With a stiff breeze blowing straight in at home plate, the winner of the two games on Friday afternoon between the Illinois College softball team and Monmouth College were largely determined by strong defense and pitching. The Lady Blues excelled in both categories and took home 5-2 and 4-1 wins over the Scots, improving to 7-9 (2-2 Midwest Conference) and dropping Monmouth to 6-11 (2-2 MWC).
Illinois College was perfect in the field, committing no errors and receiving a pair of complete game victories from pitchers
Amanda Price (5-3) and
Lanie Thompson (2-3).
The Lady Blues come back home to Kamp Softball Field on April 6 for a non-conference doubleheader against Benedictine University - Springfield beginning at 3 p.m.
Game 1: Illinois College 5, Monmouth 2It was a good day to be a pitcher, but only Price was able to take full advantage of the conditions as she went the distance. The junior wasn't overpowering with only one strikeout, but she issued no free passes and let her defense silence the Monmouth offense.
In the top of the first inning, the Lady Blues got to Monmouth starter Liz Hippen with a two-out rally that ended with three runs scored.
Sierra McDonald started it off with a single back up the middle and
Betsy Wagers drew a walk.
Brittany Fanella then doubled to score McDonald for a 1-0 lead. Sam Hereley extended the inning with Hippen's second walk of the frame and with two runners in scoring position,
Emily Hawkins dropped a single into right field to bring Wagers and Fanella home.
Monmouth answered back with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the inning, but Illinois College would retain its 3-1 lead all the way until the fifth inning. Starting with the top of the order, Thompson led off with a walk and was moved along by a
Courtney Kwasnitza infield single. Two straight wild pitches from Hippen brought Thompson around to score and put Kwasnitza on third base with no outs. Wagers delivered a solid single into center field to score her and up IC's lead to 5-1.
The Scots did manage one run in the bottom of the sixth, but that threat ended with Price making a nice play on a grounder back to her in the circle to keep the Lady Blues up by three runs. Monmouth could put only one baserunner aboard in the seventh inning and IC was able to nab its first MWC win of the season.
Fanella ended the game with a pair of doubles to lead the Lady Blues. Each of the first five hitters in the batting order scored a run in the contest.
Game Two: Illinois College 4, Monmouth 1The Lady Blues used a similar formula to the first game to complete the sweep of Monmouth. Illinois College plated two runs in the first inning and used a solid performance from Thompson to pick up the win.
Kwasnitza led off the game against Monmouth starter Alyssa Edler with a triple and she scored with one away on a McDonald single. An error from the Scots then put two on for Fanella and the senior brought McDonald home with a fielder's choice ground ball.
Thompson sat Monmouth down in order in the first inning and worked through some trouble in the second to keep the Scots scoreless. In the third inning, McDonald again reached base, was sac bunted to second by Wagers before getting to third base and scoring on a Fanella ground ball, making it a 3-0 game.
Monmouth continued to struggle against Thompson, managing just one base hit on the freshman in both the third and fourth innings but getting no closer to closing the gap on the Lady Blues. The Scots finally broke through with a run in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with one down and scoring on a RBI groundout to Hawkins before Thompson ended the inning by catching a lined shot back to the rubber.
A lead-off single for the Scots in the bottom of the sixth was erased by three straight outs, two by Hawkins at shortstop. Illinois College then got some insurance in the top of the seventh with a two-out RBI single from Fanella to score Thompson from third base. The Scots went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half to end the game.
Thompson earned her second career win by allowing one run and six hits in seven innings, striking out two. Kwasnitza and McDonald each had a pair of hits in the game and Hawkins led the defense with six putouts.
