By: Illinois College broke ties in its final turn at the plate in each game, sweeping Rose-Hulman by scores of 4-3 and 3-1.
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Box Score 2
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Illinois College softball team swept Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Wednesday evening, using runs late in each game to break a tie with the Fightin' Engineers. In the first game, the Lady Blues tied the contest in the top of the seventh inning and then won it in the eighth, 4-3. In game two, two runs in the top of the seventh broke open a tie and paved the way for a 3-1 victory. Illinois College improves to 17-9 on the season.
Potentially the most important doubleheader of the season is coming up on April 22 as IC hosts St. Norbert College at 1 and 3 p.m. from Jessica Kamp Field. The Lady Blues bring a 9-3 record in the Midwest Conference into the game and sit alone in second place. St. Norbert is 11-1 in the MWC and alone in first place.
Game One: Illinois College 4, Rose-Hulman 3 (8 innings)
Another day, another complete game victory for
Mariah Hedges (9-2). A day after missing a perfect game by one out, Hedges was back in the pitcher's circle and limited Rose-Hulman to nine hits on the day.
Illinois College took the lead in the top of the first inning when
Jackie Reilly bunted for a single and stole second.
Frankie Sikora then singled her home to make it 1-0. A
Shelby Koehler lead-off double in the third inning turned into another run when
Elyce Trout singled her home for a 2-0 lead.
Rose-Hulman tied the game in the bottom of the third with a RBI single and a fielder's choice groundout to drive in another run, evening the game at 2-2. The score stayed there until the bottom of the sixth when the Fightin' Engineers hit a two-out single with runners on the corners, taking a 3-2 lead.
After
Hailey Lesser and Reilly grounded out, IC was just one out away from taking the loss, but Koehler doubled and
Savanna Brady singled her home to tie the game at 3-3. In the seventh, a single with a runner on second might have ended the game except Reilly's throw home was in time for
Marissa Knowles to apply the tag and send the game into extras.
In the eighth inning,
DJ Troli was placed on second base and Trout laid down a sacrifice bunt to move her to third with one out.
Katie Prizer then followed with a fly out to left field that was deep enough for Troli to come home for the go-ahead run. The situation was the same in the bottom of the inning as Rose-Hulman started with a runner on second, but Hedges started the inning with a pop-out back to her and two fly outs to Lesser in center field ended the game.
Game Two: Illinois College 3, Rose-Hulman 1
Despite not recording a strikeout,
Maddie Nichols (3-4) held Rose-Hulman to only three hits in the second game of the doubleheader and Illinois College scored twice in the top of the seventh to win it.
For the second game running, Illinois College got on the board in the top of the first. With the bases empty and two outs, Brady, Sikora and Trout all singled and Trout's hit drove in Brady to make it 1-0.
That lead would hold up until the bottom of the fifth. A walk and a single put two aboard with no outs in the inning. That was followed by a sacrifice bunt to put both runners in scoring position. A fly out to foul territory in left was snagged by Reilly for the second out of the inning, but it was deep enough for the tying run to score from third before Nichols was able to get the third out on a pop out to first base.
After both teams went down in order in the sixth, the Lady Blues pulled ahead in the seventh. Pinch-hitter
Katie Poe led off with a double and gave way to pinch-runner
Dakota Swingler. Lesser drove her in with a RBI single and advanced to second as the throw went home. Troli then pinch-ran and went to third on a Rose-Hulman error. Koehler grounded out to third after that, but she did enough for Troli to race in for a 3-1 lead. Facing the bottom of the order, Nichols sat Rose-Hulman down in order again to end the game.
