By: Needing just one win to become the all-time leader in softball coaching victories at IC, Meghan Roman got two on Sunday as the Lady Blues wrapped up MWC play on a high note in victories over Lawrence.
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APPLETON, Wis. – The Illinois College softball team put the finishing touches on a perfect 6-0 trip to the Badger State on Sunday with 9-0 and 7-4 wins over Lawrence University. The Lady Blues had already clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's Midwest Conference Tournament, but now know that they will face Grinnell College in the first game on Friday.
The day was also historic for the IC softball program as Head Coach
Meghan Roman became the winningest coach in program history. Roman entered the day tied with Gene Farmer for the most wins in IC history with 112, but eclipsed that following the shutout victory in game one.
Before MWC Tournament play gets underway, Illinois College will host Millikin University on May 1 at 3 and 5 p.m.
Game One: Illinois College 9, Lawrence 0 (6 innings)
After holding St. Norbert off the score in the final four innings on Friday, shutting out Ripon over 20 innings of play on Saturday, and then getting a run-rule victory over Lawrence in the first game on Saturday, Illinois College ran its shutout streak to 30 innings as
Mariah Hedges earned the victory to improve to 13-3 on the season. The senior only allowed four hits while picking up her 11th consecutive win.
The Lady Blues picked up the winning runs in the top of the second inning. With two runners on and two outs in the frame,
Jackie Reilly singled to right field to score
Mikayla Greenwood.
Hailey Lesser followed with a RBI single to score
Megan Spain.
The big blow came in the fourth inning. After
Frankie Sikora picked up a RBI on an infield single to make it 3-0,
Lea Hall homered to left to plate three more runs for a 6-0 lead.
That was plenty for Hedges on the afternoon, but the Lady Blues made sure by scoring three more in the sixth inning and ending the game early. IC loaded the bases with one out in the inning and scored on a passed ball, an error by the Lawrence defense, and finally on an RBI ground out from Spain. Ahead 9-0, the Lady Blues sat LU down in order in the bottom half of the inning to bring the came to a close.
Hall was the offensive leader for Illinois College in the game, going 4-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Game Two: Illinois College 7, Lawrence 4
Hall continued to pound Lawrence pitching with a 2-for-4 game in the second game of the day. Her two-run blast in the top of the first inning put Illinois College ahead and the Lady Blues never trailed as
Jess Feig earned the win to move to 8-5 on the year.
Hall's one-out home run to the opposite field in the top of the first gave starter
Maddie Nichols some breathing room. Lawrence proceeded to load the bases against the sophomore and score a run in the bottom of the first before Nichols induced three straight outs to escape the jam with a 2-1 lead.
The teams then were held scoreless in the second inning before scoring a run apiece in the third. Greenwood had a two-out RBI single to bring
Shelby Koehler home in the IC half of the third. The Vikings were quick to answer with a double and a single to lead off the bottom of the third to trim IC's edge to 3-2.
Elyce Trout and Koehler had RBIs with two outs in the top of the fourth. Nichols then gave way to Feig going into the bottom of the fourth. Feig had some early issues with a walk and two hits, but a runner was tagged out at the plate to keep the Lady Blues ahead by a score of 5-3 going to the fifth.
A two-out RBI single from Hall pushed Illinois College's lead to four runs at 7-3 and Feig cruised through the fifth with IC comfortably ahead. Lawrence put two on in the sixth but Feig struck out a batter with two down to end the inning.
In the seventh inning, Lawrence pushed a run across with two outs and brought the tying run to the plate. The line drive from Amanda Karnatz could have very likely resulted in a tie game if Reilly hadn't caught it, but the gold glover in left field for the Lady Blues reeled it in to end the game.
Greenwood led IC at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a RBI. Reilly, Lesser and Hall all had two hits apiece for the Lady Blues.
