ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team returned to action on Saturday after a two-week layoff, going 1-1 on the first day of the Augustana Invitational. The University of Dubuque registered a 10-2 win in six innings in the first game of the day, but the Lady Blues recovered with a 5-0 shutout win over Augustana behind the strong pitching performance of
Sydney Hood.
The Lady Blues (5-5) continue play at the Augustana Invitational on Sunday, once again facing Dubuque and Augustana in a pair of games.
Game One: Dubuque 10, Illinois College 2 (6 innings)
The University of Dubuque took control of the first game early on, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first and eventually ending the game in six innings.
All four runs for the Spartans in the first inning came with two outs, including a bases-clearing double from Allison Yager. Illinois College rallied in the top of the second with three straight hits from
Madisyn Webster,
Ryleigh Keith and
Christin Mathias. Mathias' single drove in Webster to make it 4-1 and
Jackie Reilly later drove in
Sam Seggerman to cut the Dubuque advantage to 4-2.
The game remained close until the bottom of the fourth when the Spartans pulled away with a pair of two-run home runs off the bats of Kaylin Featheringill and Brandy Heraty. Dubuque maintained its 8-2 lead until the bottom of the sixth when a pair of Illinois College errors helped the Spartans scored twice more, making it 10-2. With an eight-run lead through six, the game ended early as UD improved to 11-4 on the year.
Game Two: Illinois College 5, Augustana 0
Illinois College used a great pitching performance from
Sydney Hood to earn a split of its two games. Hood threw a three-hitter with five strikeouts and one walk to silence the Viking offense, improving to 2-2 on the year.
Hood retired the first nine Augustana batters of the game. By the time the Vikings had a runner reach first, Illinois College had already taken a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the second, Reilly doubled to left-center with the bases loaded, driving in
Jessica Belzer, Webster and Mathias.
Augustana left runners stranded in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings before Illinois College added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Mathias drove in
Hailey Lesser with a fielder's choice ground ball to make it 4-0. Later on, Belzer singled in
Skylar Dees to increase the margin to 5-0. Hood worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning to close it out.
Illinois College had a 7-3 edge in hits in the game, with
Grace Frost supplying the Lady Blues with a 2-for-2 day at the plate along with a walk.
