By: After a 16-2 shellacking of Mitchell College in the day’s first game, Illinois College had No. 21 Central College on the ropes until the Dutch scored two runs in the final inning to win, 5-4.
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Box Score 2 KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Illinois College softball team continued its solid play at the Rebel Spring Games on Tuesday, taking one of two in its matchups against Mitchell College and Central College. The Lady Blues needed only five innings to get a mercy-rule victory over the Mariners by a score of 16-2. In the day's second game, IC led the No. 21-ranked Dutch by a score of 4-3 heading into the seventh until Central scored twice to escape with a 5-4 win.
Illinois College will have a day off from action tomorrow and on March 10 the Lady Blues will have a pair of junior varsity games which will not count toward the team's regular season record. IC will conclude its trip to Florida on March 11 with a doubleheader against Muskingum University at 1:30 p.m. (EST) and Husson University at 3:45 p.m. (EST).
Game One: Illinois College 16, Mitchell 2 (5 innings)Illinois College simply overwhelmed Mitchell in an early afternoon contest. After taking a 1-0 lead into the second inning, the Lady Blues put up five more runs in the second inning, four in the third and five in the fourth to take command. The win put the Lady Blues at 4-1 overall on the year heading into their showdown with Central.
Shelby Koehler led off the game for Illinois College with a double into left field. The next batter up,
Jackie Reilly, singled her home to give starting pitcher
Mariah Hedges some immediate run support. Hedges stranded a Mariner baserunner on third to end the first inning and bring IC back up to the plate.
The Lady Blues did all their damage in the second inning with two down.
Kinzie Verhines and
Brenna Garland were on base when an error by Danielle Autieri allowed Verhines to score from third. The bases were loaded up a couple batters later for
Lea Hall and the reigning MWC Player of the Week did exactly what she has done in the early going this season, belting a grand slam to stake Illinois College to a 6-0 edge.
It got worse for Mitchell in the third inning. With two outs yet again, the Lady Blues delivered clutch hit after clutch hit, starting with a double from Koehler that brought Verhines and
Marissa Knowles home for an 8-0 lead.
Katie Prizer later doubled to score Koehler and
Mickalah York, making it 10-0.
Hedges was done for the day after making it through the third inning unscathed. With two outs in the fourth inning, an error from Janelle Rice in left ended with Koehler on third base and three runners –
Natalie Halpin,
Mikayla Greenwood and
Savanna Brady – all crossing home to make it 13-0. A second Mitchell error in the inning scored Koehler and Prizer collected her second double of the day to score York, giving IC a 15-run lead going into the bottom of the fourth.
DJ Troli pitched the final two innings for Illinois College. Mitchell put one run on the board in the fourth on a sacrifice fly but the sophomore pitcher left the bases loaded without giving up another run in the frame. Mitchell was charged with two more errors in the fifth inning and Greenwood added one final run for the Lady Blues. The Mariners needed six runs to keep the game going but could get only one in the bottom of the fifth to end it.
Illinois College pounded out 15 hits in the game. Koehler, Prizer, Greenwood, Knowles and Verhines all had two each. Hedges improved to 2-0 after allowing only a single hit over three innings.
Game Two: Central 5, Illinois College 4The Lady Blues stood toe-to-toe with one of the nation's top programs before some aggressive late baserunning from Central proved decisive.
The Dutch struck first in this one, going up 1-0 in the first inning on a two-out error by the Lady Blues. Illinois College came back to tie it at 1-1 in the bottom of the second on a massive two-out home run by Verhines out to left field. Coming back strong, Central put its first two hitters of the third inning on base before a one-out single to left scored Sarah Bowen, making it 2-1.
Elyce Trout led off the bottom of the fourth with a double against Central starter Annie DeVries before York came in to pinch-run. With one out,
Dakota Swingler singled to put runners on the corners and a wild pitch from reliever Trisha Smith moved Swingler into scoring position. From there, the Dutch were able to get York out at home after a Verhines ground ball to record the second out, but
Abby Campbell came up with a big single to score two runs and Koehler followed with a single to push Campbell across for a 4-2 lead.
After a scoreless fifth inning from both teams, Central pulled one back in the top of the sixth. IC went down quickly in the bottom half, taking the game to the seventh with the Lady Blues out in front, 4-3.
Illinois College put the first two batters of the seventh down in order and were one out away from the victory. A walk and a stolen base put a Central runner on second, and a single scored Caitlyn Saxton with Tabitha Taylor taking second base on the throw home. The next batter, Abbie Voas, singled and Taylor put her head down and raced home to give the Dutch a 5-4 lead.
The Lady Blues wouldn't go quietly, putting Koehler and Reilly aboard with no outs in the bottom half of the inning and moving them up to second and third with one out after a sac bunt from Prizer. Needing a base hit to potentially bring the winning run home from second, Hall and Trout struck out against Karly Olson to preserve the victory for Central.
IC ended with 12 hits in the game, including three from Koehler. Reilly and Trout each had a pair of hits as well.
Amanda Price was solid throughout, throwing all seven innings for the Lady Blues, but took the loss to fall to 1-1 on the season.
