By: Illinois College’s season ended with two shutout losses on Friday, falling to Lake Forest, 1-0, and to Carroll, 2-0.
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Box Score 2
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team simply couldn't get the bats going on Friday at the MWC Tournament and the Lady Blues were eliminated following a 1-0 loss to Lake Forest and a 2-0 loss to Carroll. The Foresters, Pioneers and Monmouth Scots will now duke it out for the right to be called the MWC champion and represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament.
Illinois College ends its season with a record of 21-17 (13-7 MWC) and the first MWC Tournament berth for the program since the 2007 season.
Game One: Lake Forest 1, Illinois College 0
It didn't seem like it at the time, but when lead-off hitter
Shelby Koehler was hit by a pitch to start the game in the top of the first inning, it represented one of the best chances all game long for the Illinois College offense.
With Jessi Werner dealing all day long for Lake Forest, run-scoring opportunities for the Lady Blues were few and far between. Koehler eventually tried to steal second and was thrown out by Alex Hemmer. One pitch later,
Katie Prizer struck out swinging and the offensive struggles for IC began.
Following a 1-2-3 inning from Illinois College in the top of the second, Lake Forest took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Maria Zepeda doubled to left-center to start the frame and a long flyout and slow groundout scored her for a 1-0 advantage.
Considering the last game between the two featured 16 runs in eight innings of action, more offense figured to be in the cards but that run in the second would be the only run scored all game. A
Hannah Knapper single in the third was the only hit in the game for Illinois College and she couldn't advance past first base in the inning. IC also earned walks in the fifth and sixth inning but each time left runners on first.
Amanda Price scattered six hits across 6.0 innings with three strikeouts but took the loss to fall to 8-5 for the season. Werner improved her record to 15-4 with a complete-game, nine-strikeout performance for the Foresters.
Game Two: Carroll 2, Illinois College 0
Price got the call again in the second game of the day but again suffered the loss as the two runs (one earned) that she allowed were too much for the IC offense to overcome. Shelby Sommer moved to 13-7 with the win, allowing one hit and walking three over 5.1 innings. Hannah Miller earned the save by working a perfect 1.2 innings of relief.
The Lady Blues put one on in the first inning as Prizer made her way to first base on a two-out error before being stranded.
Marissa Knowles then hit a two-out single in the second for the only Illinois College hit of the game, but Knapper followed with a line-out to right field to end the frame.
Carroll went ahead in the third inning on Price as a two-out error was compounded as Kelly Sykes doubled to score the go-ahead run. The Lady Blues threatened in the bottom of the fourth with two on and one out, but Sommer escaped by getting
Kinzie Verhines to line out to left field and Knowles to ground out to second.
The Pioneers tacked on one more run in the fifth on a two-out double in the fifth to score Megan Kohlmetz. Down to their last nine outs, the Lady Blues could manage only a sixth-inning walk from Prizer and Carroll survived another day.
The Pioneers will meet the Foresters on Saturday morning in an elimination game. The winner will then meet Monmouth College needing to defeat the Scots twice to win the MWC title.
