By: The Lady Blues needed only five innings in each game of a doubleheader to secure mercy-rule victories over the Prairie Fire by scores of 12-0 and 10-0.
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Box Score 2
GALESBURG, Ill. – Pitchers
Mariah Hedges and
Jess Feig combined to limit the Knox College offense to just three hits over 10 innings and the Illinois College softball team took sole possession of second place in the Midwest Conference with 12-0 and 10-0 victories over the Prairie Fire on Tuesday afternoon.
Illinois College (15-9, 9-3 MWC) will immediately return to action with a make-up doubleheader at Rose-Hulman at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. in Terre Haute, Ind.
Game One: Illinois College 12, Knox 0 (5 innings)
Hedges was one batter away from a perfect game in the opening game of the doubleheader, but settled for a complete game one-hitter and shutout, improving to 8-2 on the season.
The game-winning hit came off the bat of
Elyce Trout in the top of the 2nd inning. Her team-leading third home run of the season put the Lady Blues up, 1-0.
In the third, Trout reached on an error and
Hailey Lesser came in for a 2-0 lead. After that, a
Marissa Knowles single scored
Savanna Brady and
Ryleigh Keith then tacked on two more runs with a RBI triple for a 5-0 advantage.
In the fourth inning, a pair of run-scoring sacrifice flies sandwiched a Knowles double that plated
Frankie Sikora and Brady, making it 9-0. Trout and Knowles again added RBIs in the fifth to push the lead to 12-0.
In the meantime, Hedges was mowing down Knox every time out. She struck out the side in the first and third innings and let the defense do the work for her in the second and fourth innings. Going into the fifth, Hedges had a perfect game going and it continued as she retired the first two batters of the frame. Needing just one more out to finish it off, Knox finally came through with a base hit. Katy Coseglia singled into right field to end her bid, but Coseglia then tried to stretch the single into a double and was thrown out to end the game.
Trout and Knowles each ended with a pair of hits and four RBIs in the game. Brady had a team-high three hits.
Game Two: Illinois College 10, Knox 0 (5 innings)
Illinois College put the game away early, scoring six runs in the top of the second inning and cruising from there. Feig allowed only two hits, one in the third and one in the fourth, to earn the two-hitter and keep her perfect record intact at 5-0 on the year.
After Feig struck out two of her first three hitters to bring the bottom of the first to a close, Illinois College got to work. An error and two walks loaded the bases for
Emily Kay, who delivered a single that, coupled with another Knox error, put three runs on the board. Following a
Natalie Halpin single,
Shelby Koehler doubled home both to make it 5-0. Later in the inning, Brady singled in Koehler to make it 6-0.
Feig struck out two more in the bottom of the second and two more in the third, though she did give up a lead-off single. IC tacked on more insurance runs in the fourth as Keith and
Rachel Alcott collected RBIs for an 8-0 lead. In the fifth, Brady and
Maddie Nichols had RBIs to push the Illinois College advantage to 10-0.
Feig ended the game by getting two more strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth. She ended with nine in the contest.
