By: Following a 3-2 loss in extra innings in the first game, Illinois College exploded for eight runs in the seventh inning of game two to escape a two-run deficit.
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Box Score 2 WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. – The Illinois College softball team split a late-night doubleheader with Webster University on Monday. The first game between the two teams went nine innings and ended with a 3-2 loss for the Lady Blues, but IC rallied for eight runs in the seventh inning of game two to turn a 5-3 deficit into an 11-5 victory.
Illinois College moved to 8-4 on the season entering Midwest Conference play. The next 16 games that the Lady Blues play will come against MWC opponents and the first 10 of those games will be at Jessica Kamp Softball Field. Beloit College is up first on April 2 with two games starting at 1 p.m.
Game One: Webster 3, Illinois College 2 (9 innings)Though Illinois College tied the game in the seventh inning and took the lead in the eighth, the Lady Blues couldn't complete the comeback and fell, 3-2, in the first of two games against the Gorloks on Monday.
Lanie Thompson took the loss to fall to 1-2 on the season.
The game was a pitcher's duel involving starter
Amanda Price, but Webster scratched one run across in the bottom of the fourth off of reliever
DJ Troli. There were two out and two on when Karissa Cardenas singled in a run to make it 1-0.
The Webster lead stayed right there until the top of the seventh when the Lady Blues equalized. A
Kinzie Verhines single to lead off the inning started the rally and two straight bunts put runners in scoring position with one out.
Shelby Koehler then grounded into a fielder's choice but Verhines was able to beat the play home to knot the game at 1-1.
In the eighth,
Lea Hall started the inning at second and made it to third on a wild pitch before she was erased at home on a grounder back to the pitcher. With
Elyce Trout on first, Verhines doubled and was thrown out at third, but not before Trout came home to give IC a 2-1 lead.
The Gorloks had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the eighth when Cardenas singled again, this time tying the game at 2-2. Verhines was tagged out at home in the ninth to end a scoring threat and a one-out single by Katelyn Johnson in the ninth scored Cardenas to give Webster the win.
Verhines led the Lady Blues with a 3-for-4 game at the plate, scoring one run and driving in another. Koehler, Hall, Trout and pinch-hitter
Marissa Knowles all had one hit apiece.
Game Two: Illinois College 11, Webster 5Things weren't going much better for Illinois College in the second game of the night until an eight-run seventh inning paved the way for the first road win of the season.
Facing reigning MWC Pitcher of the Week
Mariah Hedges, Webster scored twice in the second inning and once in the third before Troli came on in relief and escaped any further damage. IC's 3-0 deficit remained until the fifth inning. With two outs and no one on,
Abby Campbell singled to keep the inning going and Koehler followed with one of her own.
Jackie Reilly collected the third straight hit for the Lady Blues to score Campbell and make it 3-1. With
Katie Prizer at the plate, an error by the Webster catcher brought two runs home to tie the game at 3-3.
The Lady Blues left the bases loaded in the sixth inning and Webster took a 5-3 lead in the bottom half of the inning on three hits and an IC error. Down to their final three outs, the Lady Blues cranked out seven hits and were helped along by four Gorlok errors in the seventh to score a whopping eight runs. A three-run home run by Knowles provided the go-ahead runs and the lead only grew from there until Illinois College took an 11-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
Leah Shumaker slammed the door from there to move her record to 1-1 on the season.
Campbell led the IC hitters with a 3-for-4 game at the plate. Koehler, Reilly, Prizer and Knowles all had two hits apiece as well for the Lady Blues.
