Pitching Paves Way for Two Softball Victories

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Illinois College softball team won its first two games on its trip to Florida, downing Carroll University by a score of 2-1 in eight innings in the opener on Sunday morning and closing out the day with a 1-0 triumph over Franklin & Marshall College. IC evens its record at 2-2 on the season.

The Lady Blues continue play with two games tomorrow. IC will first meet Wisconsin Lutheran College at 9 a.m. (EST), concluding the day with a 1:30 p.m. (EST) meeting against Marietta College.

Game One: Illinois College 2, Carroll 1 (8 innings)
In the first game on Sunday, Illinois College came up with some clutch offense late to negate a great game in the circle from Carroll's Hannah Miller. The Lady Blues went to the bottom of the seventh trailing, 1-0, but tied the game to send it to extras and eventually won the game on a wild pitch. Maddie Nichols (1-2) worked around eight walks, throwing a complete game and picking up her first collegiate victory for IC while allowing only three soft singles.

In the first inning, Carroll's Roselie Jrolf singled softly into shallow right field but was eventually stranded at second base. That proved to be the only hit for either team through the first four innings. Nichols had to escape more jams than Miller, but the freshman came up with big pitches when she needed them to stay out of trouble.

In the fifth inning, the Pioneers took a lead after Veronica Rodriguez drew a two-out walk with the bases loaded to make it 1-0. The Lady Blues escaped any further damage as Elyce Trout fielded a grounder and threw to Mikayla Greenwood at third base for the force to end the frame.

Miller's no-hitter continued in the fifth inning. Two IC batters reached on errors from the Carroll defense, but a hard-hit Jackie Reilly grounder was fielded and the third baseman went to the bag to end the inning. The situation played itself out again in the sixth. Trout finally ended Miller's bid for a no-hitter with a clean single into center field, but with two on and two out, a grounder to third base was picked up and the defense beat pinch-runner DJ Troli to the bag.

Down to their final turn at the plate, the Lady Blues came up with the tying run. Greenwood started the inning with a walk and pinch-hitter Frankie Sikora doubled to center field, putting two runners in scoring position. That ended Miller's day as Amanda Osterhus came on in relief. With the bases loaded and two outs, Marissa Knowles drew a walk to bring Mickalah York home and send the contest to extras.

In the eighth inning, Carroll had one out and a runner on third but failed to score. That set the stage for Illinois College. With Trout on second, Lea Hall laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to get her over to third base. After Katie Prizer lined out sharply to shortstop, Savanna Brady walked to put runners on the corners. Ryleigh Keith then entered as a pinch-hitter for York, but before she could do any damage with her bat, a wild pitch got past the Carroll catcher and Trout hurried home for the winning run.

Game Two: Illinois College 1, Franklin & Marshall 0
A complete-game shutout by Mariah Hedges in the second game lifted Illinois College to a perfect start on its Spring Break swing. The junior pitcher gave up only three hits and walked none while striking out three to move to 1-0 on the year.

The only run the Lady Blues would need came in the second inning, and it came without a hit. Sikora started the inning off with a walk and Trout then laid down a bunt in front of the pitcher. Izzy Schaefer threw to second to try to get Sikora, but her throw was late to put two runners aboard. Prizer moved both runners into scoring position with a groundout to second base and Keith scored Sikora with a sac fly to deep right field for a 1-0 lead.

Hedges stranded two Diplomat runners in the bottom of the third inning and another one in the bottom of the fifth. Illinois College didn't actually record a hit until the sixth inning, when Hailey Lesser and Shelby Koehler each singled, however Schaefer was able to work out the jam and keep it a one-run game.

In the bottom of the sixth, Franklin & Marshall had the tying run on second with no outs, but Reilly made a nice read in left field to make a running catch for the first out. From there, Koehler and Prizer each made catches in foul territory to end the threat and send the game to the seventh inning. Hedges cruised through the final inning, inducing a groundout to Prizer, a flyout to right field, and a groundout to Trout to end it.