PLANT CITY, Fla. – The Illinois College offense provided nothing to speak of for the first two innings on Wednesday against Worcester Polytechnic Institute, striking out six consecutive times to open the game. Down 2-0 entering the third inning, the Lady Blues suddenly sprang to life with three runs and that was all
Jess Feig needed as IC downed the Rams, 3-2, evening the team's record at 2-2.
Feig stranded two WPI runners in scoring position in the bottom of the first inning, but the senior pitcher for the Lady Blues was unable to escape a two-out, two-on jam in the second inning when Caraline Wood doubled in a pair to give the Rams a 2-0 lead.
Katie Martin had struck out the first six Illinois College hitters she faced, but after she got
Maddy Morgan out on a fly ball to left to start the third inning, things unraveled for her. Next up,
Sam Seggerman homered to center field to make it 2-1. That was followed by a
Hailey Lesser single and stolen base.
Jackie Reilly then doubled her home to reset the game at 2-2. When
Savanna Brady reached on a two-out error from Martin, Reilly scampered home with the go-ahead run.
Feig again stranded a pair of WPI base-runners in the bottom of the third, then began to dominate Ram hitters. WPI went down in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Down to its final turn at the plate, WPI received a lead-off single from Leila Camplese and she eventually reached third base with one away in the inning. With runners on the corners, a Kylie Juarez bunt ended with Camplese out at home and Wood then ended up in a run-down where Reilly made the game-winning tag after coming in from left field to join the fracas.
Lesser had two of IC's four hits on the day, while Reilly stole two bases to inch closer to the all-time school record. She now has 37, six behind Paige Cullison and Courtney Kwasnitza. Feig struck out four and scattered six hits across 7.0 innings to move to 1-1 on the season.
The Lady Blues wrap up their trip with back-to-back doubleheaders, starting tomorrow with two games against Emerson College (11 a.m. EST) and Simmons University (1:15 p.m. EST).
