PLANT CITY, Fla. – The Illinois College softball team had some tough luck in the opening game on Friday, losing to Hood College in the eighth inning using international rules which placed a runner on second base to start the extra frame. The Lady Blues shrugged off the defeat quickly however, ending their trip to Florida with a 4-2 win over St. John Fisher College, the 2017 national runners-up and a Super Regional qualifier last season.
Illinois College wraps up Spring Break with a record of 4-4. The Lady Blues return home to make their season debut at Jessica Kamp Softball Field on March 16 against UW-River Falls.
Game One: Hood 2, Illinois College 1 (8 innings)
The lone run for Illinois College in the first game of the day came in the third inning when
Sam Seggerman bunted her way on, then stole second and third before coming home on a bunt single from
Megan Spain. That series of events put the Lady Blues on top, 1-0, but IC couldn't muster much more against the Blazers.
Hood tied the score in the bottom of the fourth. With two down and two on, a single through the left side of the infield brought one runner home to tie the score, however a throw from
Jackie Reilly to
Marissa Knowles was in time to get the trail runner, leaving the score tied heading into the fifth.
With neither team able to crack the opposing defense for any further runs, the game headed to the eighth inning knotted at 1-1. Reilly was placed on second base to start the top of the eighth and a Spain sacrifice bunt got her to third, but she was stranded there. Hood took advantage, hitting a single to put runners on the corners with no outs in the bottom of the eighth. The next hitter, Maddie Walte singled to the shortstop to bring Katelyn Long home to end it.
Alissa Hodge and
Sydney Hood combined to limit Hood to just seven hits on the game. Hodge pitched the first four innings and gave up one run on three hits. Hood was tagged with the loss, giving up the unearned run in the eighth to fall to 1-2 on the year.
Game Two: Illinois College 4, St. John Fisher 2
A complete game from
Jess Feig and a fast start to the game from the Illinois College offense carried the Lady Blues to a 4-2 win to close out their trip. Feig scattered eight hits and two runs across 7.0 innings to improve to 2-2 on the season.
Illinois College took the lead on the third batter in the bottom of the first. Spain worked a one-out walk and
Savanna Brady followed that with a one-out triple to the gap in right-center to give IC a 1-0 lead. Immediately after that,
Ryleigh Keith hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Brady for a 2-0 edge.
St. John Fisher came back with one run in the top of the second, but the Lady Blues then extended their cushion with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning. With Seggerman and
Christin Mathias on base, Reilly singled up the middle to make it 3-1. Spain followed with another RBI single to score Seggerman for a 4-1 margin.
The score remained there all the way until the top of the seventh. With the Cardinals down to their final three outs, they finally manufactured some offense with a lead-off walk and a steal of second base. A one-out single brought the runner home to make it 4-2, but with the tying run at the plate, the batter flied into a double play to right field to bring the game to a close.
Seggerman had two of IC's six hits in the game. Each of IC's first four hitters in the line-up provided one RBI.
