By: Aurora University and Defiance College totaled 28 runs on Sunday, downing IC twice to start the season.
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Box Score 2
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Illinois College softball team played in two different types of games on Sunday, first struggling to find any offense in a 9-1 loss to Aurora University, then coming from more than 10 runs down to tie the game with Defiance College at 16-16 before falling, 19-16.
Action resumes tomorrow for the Lady Blues with two games, starting with a matchup against Lebanon Valley College at 3:45 p.m. (EST). The second game pairs IC against Westminster College (PA) at 6 p.m. (EST).
Game One – Aurora 9, Illinois College 1 (6 innings)
A wasted opportunity with the bases loaded in the first inning and some opening-game defensive jitters led to a six-inning defeat against Aurora in Sunday's first game for the Lady Blues.
Mariah Hedges took the loss in the circle, but only two of the nine runs scored by the Spartans were earned.
Hannah Tomasko had trouble finding the strike zone in the top of the first inning, walking the bases loaded with two outs. She was able to get out of the jam by striking out
Marissa Knowles to end the frame. With the Spartans up to bat in the bottom of the first, a two-out error allowed Aurora to plate two runs.
Sam Seggerman missed a home run by inches in the top of the second inning, settling for a double. She scored later in the inning on a
Jackie Reilly RBI single.
Aurora scored two more unearned runs in the bottom of the second to take a 4-1 advantage. The Lady Blues were one play away from a 1-2-3 inning, but the Spartans were able to extend their lead. Aurora tagged Hedges for two more runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two-out home run to make it 6-1.
Illinois College committed two more errors in the sixth inning, allowing Aurora to put more runners on and eventually plate three runs and end the game early.
Game Two – Defiance 19, Illinois College 16 (8 innings)
In a wild contest, Defiance found itself three outs away from a five-inning victory, only to see Illinois College stay alive with an eight-run inning and eventually tie the score at 16-16. The Yellow Jackets pushed three more runs across in the eighth to pull ahead and closed it out from there, dropping IC to 0-2 on the year.
Defiance raced out to a 7-0 lead, starting the game off with a two-run homer and adding four more in the second. The Yellow Jackets added one more in the third, though Reilly threw out another runner at home to limit the damage.
Illinois College got one run closer in the bottom of the third on a
Shelby Koehler sacrifice fly.
Megan Spain hit a RBI double in the bottom of the fourth to make it 7-2.
In an eventful fifth inning, Defiance scored six runs in the top half to take a 13-2 lead, leaving the Yellow Jackets three outs away from an early victory. Illinois College responded however, taking advantage of three Defiance errors in the frame to put eight runs on the board.
The Yellow Jackets put two more runs up in the sixth and tacked on one more in the seventh to take a 16-10 edge. Once again down to their final three outs, the Lady Blues answered once more. An error from Defiance early in the inning brought
Maddy Morgan and
Hailey Lesser in. Later on,
Elyce Trout doubled in Reilly and
Lea Hall then came up with two runners on and blasted a ball over the wall in center to knot the game at 16-16.
In the eighth, Defiance took quick advantage of starting the inning with a runner on second, getting to
Maddie Nichols for three runs. The Lady Blues finally ran out of comebacks, going down in order in the bottom half to bring the game to a close.
IC ended with 18 hits in the game, led by a 4-for-5 game from Morgan. Seggerman was 3-for-5, while Trout, Hall, Spain and Lesser all had two hits each.
