By: The Lady Blues hung tough against one of the preseason favorites in the CCIW, but lost each game of the doubleheader by a pair of runs.
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Box Score 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team played well, but fell twice to open the 2017 season against Carthage College. The Lady Reds defeated the Lady Blues by scores of 4-2 and 6-4 in the first two games of the season for both teams.
Illinois College travels to Florida next week for the Rebel Spring Games. The Lady Blues will have eight games in the Sunshine State, starting on March 12 with matchups against Carroll University and Franklin & Marshall College.
Game One: Carthage 4, Illinois College 2
Carthage jumped ahead in the opening inning of the first game of the doubleheader and held on for the victory. Katie Herron struck out 14 Illinois College hitters and allowed only two hits to pick up the victory.
Maddie Nichols had a rough first inning in her first career start. The Lady Reds loaded the bases with one out in the inning and scored their first run on a hit by pitch. From there, a single and a sacrifice fly made it 3-0 at the end of the first.
Carthage added onto its lead in the top of the fourth inning with a bases-loaded walk, increasing its lead to 4-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, IC cut into the Carthage lead. An error by the left fielder allowed
Shelby Koehler to reach third.
Jackie Reilly then singled to make it 4-1. A single up the middle by
Marissa Knowles made it 4-2 before the Lady Reds could escape the inning.
In the final innings, Carthage struck out seven of the last nine Illinois College batters to close it out.
Game Two: Carthage 6, Illinois College 4
Illinois College got off to a fast start in the second game of the doubleheader, but Carthage rallied in the late innings for the win.
In the bottom of the first inning, Knowles homered to left field, scoring Koehler for a 2-0 lead. Two runs by the Lady Reds in the top of the second tied the score at 2-2.
In the bottom of the third inning,
Elyce Trout homered to the alley in left-center, scoring Koehler again and giving Illinois College a 4-2 advantage.
The IC lead would last until the fifth inning. With two runners on, a double by Carthage made it 4-3 and left two runners in scoring position. Both would come around to score, making it a 5-4 game by the end of the inning.
The Lady Reds would score one more run in the top of the seventh inning, making it 6-4. In IC's final at-bat, the winning run came to the plate with two outs, but Carthage induced a flyout to end the game.
