By: Strong hitting and strong winds were the story of the day as Illinois College defeated Beloit on Saturday by scores of 9-0 and 13-2.
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JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team swept two games against Beloit College on Saturday in the Midwest Conference openers for both teams. With wins by the scores of 9-0 and 13-2 in five innings apiece, the Lady Blues improved to 10-4 (2-0 MWC), while Beloit dropped to 3-13 (0-2 MWC) for the season.
Illinois College continues a 10-game home stand at Jessica Kamp Softball Field on Sunday with a doubleheader against Lake Forest College beginning at 1 p.m.
Game One: Illinois College 9, Beloit 0 (5 innings)
Amanda Price earned the complete game shutout victory by allowing only four hits in 5.0 innings and striking out four, avoiding the kind of trouble that plagued Beloit pitchers Mikayla Martin and Sonya Myscofski.
Shelby Koehler and
Lea Hall each homered in the game for IC and the Lady Blues took a 2-0 lead after the first inning and never looked back.
After a tapper back to the mound for a Beloit hit to start off the game, Price was able to turn the double play by snaring a line drive hit right back to her and throwing to
Katie Prizer at first for two down in the inning. Though a triple followed, Price then ended the inning by corralling another grounder back to the circle and throwing over to Prizer.
In the bottom of the first,
Jackie Reilly got on with one out in the inning and Prizer tripled to right field to score the freshman from first. Hall came up next with one out and hit a sacrifice fly out to left to bring Prizer in for a 2-0 lead.
In the third inning, Prizer led off with a double and Hall homered to straight-away center field for a 4-0 lead. As the inning continued,
Natalie Halpin was on third for
Hannah Knapper to score on a sacrifice fly, making it 5-0 through three complete.
Leading off the fourth, Koehler played the wind and homered out to right-center to increase the advantage to 6-0 for the Lady Blues. Needing two runs to invoke the mercy rule in the bottom of the fifth, Illinois College loaded the bases for Koehler and the sophomore tripled to bring the runs around to score to end the game early.
Koehler and Knowles each ended with three hits in the game for IC, while Prizer and
Elyce Trout had two hits apiece.
Game Two: Illinois College 13, Beloit 2 (5 innings)
The Lady Blues rallied out of a 2-0 hole to score three runs in the bottom of the first, then crushed Beloit pitching to score 10 runs in the bottom of the fourth to pick up their second mercy-rule victory of the day.
Lanie Thompson earned the win to improve to 2-2, striking out five in 5.0 innings.
The Buccaneers got off to a better start, collecting three hits in their first four at-bats for a 2-0 lead on Thompson, but it wouldn't last long against the high-powered IC attack. Koehler reached third via an error to start the bottom of the first and scored on a Reilly single to second base. With Reilly aboard, Hall bombed her second home run of the day over the wall in right to give the Lady Blues a 3-2 edge.
The game stayed right there for two more innings, with Illinois College leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the third. In the fourth, the Buccaneers had runners at second and third with one out, but Thompson got back-to-back strikeouts to keep the Lady Blues ahead.
From a tight, one-run affair, the game totally flipped in the bottom of the fourth. Koehler led off the inning and doubled, then moved to third on a wild pitch. Reilly reached on a fielder's choice that kept Koehler at third, but a single by Prizer scored Koehler to make it 4-2. After Hall walked, the bases were loaded for
Kinzie Verhines and the senior's second home run this season was a grand slam to make it 8-2.
The inning continued with one away and Knowles and
Abby Campbell both got on board before Beloit made a pitching change with two outs in the frame. It didn't pay off. Koehler took advantage of another three-base error to score Campbell, which made it 10-2 and in the range of the mercy rule. Reilly tripled to score Koehler from 60 feet away and pinch-hitter
Mikayla Greenwood doubled Reilly home for a 12-2 lead. Later in the inning, Greenwood was at third for Trout, who singled through the left side to increase it to a 13-2 margin.
In the fifth and final inning, Beloit led off with a single against Thompson, but the sophomore induced three straight weak pop-ups to the infield to end the game.
Knowles collected three hits for the second straight game and Reilly added three hits with two RBIs and two runs scored. Hall was 2-for-2 in the game with two walks and Verhines led all players with her four RBIs.
