JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team kicked off its final weekend of home games at Jessica Kamp Field with a pair of important wins over Grinnell College, defeating the Pioneers by scores of 9-1 and 11-2 in five innings each. With those wins, the Lady Blues leapfrog Grinnell in the Midwest Conference standings and are currently in a tie for second place at 14-10 (9-3 MWC). The Pioneers slip to 9-19 (6-4 MWC).
Winners of four straight, Illinois College looks to stay hot tomorrow afternoon when Cornell College comes to Jessica Kamp Field. The Senior Day matchup gets started at 1 p.m.
Game One: Illinois College 9, Grinnell 1 (5 innings)
Sydney Hood continued her run of form in the first game of the day on Friday. The freshman only allowed two hits and her one run allowed was unearned. She improved to 7-4 on the season with the victory.
Meanwhile, after a scoreless first inning, Illinois College would go on to score at least one run in its next eight turns at the plate. That included a three-run second inning followed by two runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to bring the run-rule into effect after the bottom of the fifth.
Darice Wheeler is what makes the Grinnell offense go, but Hood had her number. Wheeler was just as confounded by Hood as the rest of the Pioneers were in the early going. Hood retired the first nine Grinnell hitters in order and it wasn't until a check-swing single by Leila Bishop-Parise in the fourth inning that the visitors were able to get on base.
In the bottom of the second, Illinois College scored three runs to take control.
Grace Frost led off with a double and
Frankie Sikora singled on a bunt.
Christin Mathias drove in the first run of the game with a RBI to shortstop. That was followed by a
Megan Spain RBI single to right field. The final run came in on a Grinnell error that allowed
Sam Seggerman to reach base while Mathias came in to score.
The Lady Blues added onto their lead with RBIs from
Madisyn Webster and Mathias in the bottom of the third. After Grinnell got one run back in the fourth inning, the Illinois College offense went back to work, scoring twice in the bottom half. Seggerman led off with a walk, stole second and then scored on a
Hailey Lesser RBI single.
Savanna Brady then singled to second base and Lesser raced in to extend IC's lead to 7-1.
In the bottom of the fifth,
Emily Baalman came on as a pinch-hitter and promptly singled up the middle. Spain and Seggerman followed with singles to load the bases with no outs in the inning.
Jackie Reilly worked a base on balls to force the first run home and Lesser then singled on a tough come-backer to the pitcher, allowing Spain to come home and end the game at 9-1.
Lesser, Frost, Mathias and Spain all ended with two hits apiece in the game. Lesser and Mathias led the Lady Blues with two RBIs each.
Game Two: Illinois College 11, Grinnell 2 (5 innings)
In the second game of the day,
Jackie Reilly was 3-for-3 at the plate to tie IC's all-time hits record with 172. Behind her one RBI and two runs scored at the top of the lineup, the Lady Blues jumped all over Grinnell pitcher Elle Adams. Illinois College had a four-run first inning and then tacked on another four runs in the fourth inning.
Jess Feig overcame some early wildness to improve to 6-6 on the season with the victory, striking out seven along the way.
Reilly led off the bottom of the first with a single and the next two Illinois College hitters reached via a Grinnell error. A wide throw by Grinnell's shortstop with Brady at the plate allowed Reilly to come in for a 1-0 lead. With Lesser and Brady in scoring position, things got worse for the Pioneers.
Ryleigh Keith blasted a triple through the wind to bring both runners home for a 3-0 lead before Grinnell had even registered an out. Mathias tacked on a RBI single later in the inning to make it 4-0.
In the second, Reilly led off with a line-drive triple, then raced home on a bunt from Lesser for a 5-0 edge. Like in the first game, Grinnell was able to then score to make it 5-1, but the story remained the same as Illinois College immediately came back with two runs in its next turn on offense. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, a Lesser sacrifice fly turned into two runs after an off-line throw from right field brought home both
Jessica Belzer and Seggerman.
Grinnell scored again in the top of the fourth to momentarily make it a 7-2 contest, but the Lady Blues were rolling and put four more on the board in the bottom half. With the bases loaded, Spain reached on a fielder's choice grounder when the Grinnell third baseman couldn't find a teammate to throw to. Seggerman followed with a sharp single back up the middle to score two runs for a 10-2 advantage and Reilly made it 11-2 with her third hit, scoring Spain.
Feig made sure the lead held up, retiring Grinnell in order in the fifth inning on a shallow pop-up to first base and a pair of strikeouts to end it.
Besides Reilly's three hits, IC also had multi-hit games from Keith, Spain and Seggerman. Lesser, Keith and Seggerman all drove in two runs.
