By: The Lady Blues and Scots maintained their tie for second place after splitting a doubleheader on Friday.
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Box Score 2
MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team ran its winning streak to six games with a 7-3 victory over Monmouth College in the opener of their doubleheader on Friday before falling, 2-0, in the second half of the twin bill. The Lady Blues go to 12-8 (6-2 Midwest Conference), while the Scots move to 13-10 (6-2 MWC).
Illinois College is back home tomorrow at Jessica Kamp Field to play Grinnell College (7-13, 3-3 MWC) in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
Game One: Illinois College 7, Monmouth 3
Mariah Hedges (6-2) threw a complete game and three-run outbursts in the third and seventh innings helped carry the offense to the win in the first of two games between the Lady Blues and Scots.
Monmouth loaded the bases in the first inning, but Hedges escaped unscathed. In the third,
Elyce Trout led off with a double and a single by
Hailey Lesser put two on.
Jackie Reilly then hit a sacrifice fly out to left field for a 1-0 lead. The next batter up,
Shelby Koehler, tripled to score Lesser and a fielder's choice grounder from
Savanna Brady upped IC's lead to 3-0.
The Scots were able to get one run closer in the bottom of the third, but Illinois College's lead held at 3-1 through the fifth inning. In the sixth, a Monmouth error allowed the inning to continue and
Marissa Knowles brought a run home on a sacrifice fly. The Scots again scored immediately after with a RBI double to stay within striking distance at 4-2 heading to the final inning.
In the final frame, Trout again led off with a double and an error put Lesser on base. Reilly then grounded out to bring Trout home and Koehler doubled to score Lesser, making it 6-2. Brady followed with a double of her own, bringing Koehler in for a 7-2 lead. Monmouth scored one run in the bottom of the seventh, but it wasn't nearly enough.
Koehler and Trout each ended with a pair of extra-base hits, accounting for four of IC's seven total hits in the game.
Game Two: Monmouth 2, Illinois College 0
The Illinois College offense was less effective in the second game and Monmouth was able to win on a run in the second and fourth innings.
DJ Troli took the loss to fall to 0-2 on the year.
Troli worked a 1-2-3 inning in the first, but Monmouth strung four hits in a row on her in the second inning before
Jess Feig came on in relief. Feig retired three straight hitters, but the Scots pushed across a run on a RBI single in the inning.
In the fourth, IC had runners on the corners with one away, but Monmouth escaped as
Mikayla Greenwood struck out and Trout lined out to second base. The Scots then added a run with three singles in the bottom of the inning.
That would be enough for the Scots in game two. Illinois College had runners on base in each of the final three innings, including a pair of base runners in the fifth and seventh, but could never scratch a run across. Brianna Perschall went to 3-1 with the win and Zelinda Taylor pitched the final three innings to get the save.
