By: The Lady Blues downed Cornell, 9-0, in the opener. After leading briefly in game two, Cornell exploded for five runs in the bottom of the third and held on for a 5-1 win to split the doubleheader.
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – The Illinois College softball team started the day strong, but were undone by one bad inning in game two to settle for a split at Cornell College on Thursday afternoon. The Lady Blues defeated the Rams, 9-0, before falling, 5-1. IC is now 14-8 (6-2 Midwest Conference) on the season.
Illinois College returns home this weekend for a pair of MWC doubleheaders. The Lady Blues face Lake Forest College on April 21 starting at 1 p.m. and Beloit College on April 22 starting at 12 p.m.
Game 1: Illinois College 9, Cornell 0
Mariah Hedges was nearly untouchable in the opener, going the distance giving up only four hits while walking none and striking out a pair. The senior retired 14 straight hitters at one point and improved to 9-3 on the season with the victory.
Illinois College took the lead in the top of the second after
Lea Hall led off with a double and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. One batter later,
Frankie Sikora grounded out to second base but it was enough to bring Hall in for a 1-0 advantage.
In the third inning,
Hailey Lesser reached on a one-out infield single and stole second with two outs in the inning.
Maddy Morgan then singled her home for a 2-0 lead. The Lady Blues tacked on another run in the fifth inning when
Sam Seggerman reached on a throwing error and eventually scored on a RBI single from
Savanna Brady.
The big blows from the Illinois College offense came in the sixth and seventh innings.
Shelby Koehler and Seggerman had RBI hits in the sixth to make it 5-0. In the seventh, the Lady Blues had two on with two outs when
Frankie Sikora was hit by a pitch to load the bases. An error by Cornell brought one run home and kept the inning alive.
Mikayla Greenwood then drove in two on a single to left and Seggerman followed with another single to make it 9-0.
Reilly, Morgan, Brady and Seggerman all had two hits apiece as Illinois College outhit the Rams, 13-4, in the contest.
Game 2: Cornell 5, Illinois College 1
All six runs in the second game came in the third inning, but the game got away from the Lady Blues after they had taken a brief lead.
Jess Feig fell to 4-4 on the year with the loss.
Through two innings, Cornell had the game's only hit and baserunner. That changed in the top of the third as Lesser hit a two-out infield single and was brought home on a triple by Reilly to the gap in right-center.
That 1-0 lead wouldn't hold up though. A walk, hit batter and single loaded the bases for Cornell with no outs in the bottom of the third. An error allowed the tying run to score, but Feig then retired two hitters to get within an out of escaping the jam. The Rams refused to go quietly however, driving in two on a double to make it 3-1, then adding two more on a RBI single.
The Lady Blues put runners aboard in each of the next four innings but couldn't scratch anything across. IC left the bases loaded in the top of the fourth, and stranded runners in scoring position in each of the next three innings to end it.
