MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Illinois College softball team started the first of four consecutive Midwest Conference doubleheaders away from Jessica Kamp Field on Tuesday afternoon with a split against Monmouth College. The Fighting Scots downed IC in the first game, 6-2, before the Lady Blues answered back with a 5-2 win to close out the day. The Lady Blues are now 9-9 (4-2 MWC), while the Fighting Scots move to 11-15 (8-2 MWC).
The road swing for IC softball continues this weekend with back-to-back doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday. First up is an April 13 twinbill at Lake Forest College starting at 1 p.m.
Game One: Monmouth 6, Illinois College 2
The Lady Blues came up empty with good scoring opportunities in the first two innings and Monmouth was able to take advantage of three Illinois College errors as the game went along to down reigning MWC Pitcher of the Week
Sydney Hood in the opener.
After stranding five runners in the first two innings, Illinois College finally broke through with a run in the top of the third on a
Madisyn Webster RBI single to score
Grace Frost. That 1-0 lead only lasted until the bottom half though. Monmouth's lead-off hitter reached on an error to start the frame and two runs eventually came around to score, making it 2-1 entering the fourth inning.
In the top of the fourth,
Hailey Lesser drew a walk and moved up to second on a groundout before advancing to third on a wild pitch. With two down in the inning,
Megan Spain singled to left-center to score Lesser, tying the score up at 2-2.
Illinois College loaded the bases up for the second time in the game in the fifth inning, but once again came up empty. That would prove crucial as an error in the bottom half opened the door for Monmouth to put four runs on the board, breaking open a 6-2 game. The Lady Blues brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning, but the Fighting Scots once again escaped unscathed to secure the win.
Game Two: Illinois College 5, Monmouth 2
Jess Feig delivered a big pitching performance in game two to help Illinois College manage to come away with one win on the day. The senior threw a complete game six-hitter and allowed only one earned run while striking out three, improving to 4-5 on the season. Monmouth's first seven hitters went down in order and the Fighting Scots didn't have a hit until the fifth inning.
Illinois College broke open a scoreless tie in the third inning on a single from
Savanna Brady to bring home Webster for a 1-0 lead. In the fifth inning,
Jackie Reilly led off with a double and moved up on a wild pitch before scoring on a bunt single from Lesser to double the advantage. Before the inning was over, the Lady Blues would increase their margin to 4-0 following RBIs from
Frankie Sikora and Spain.
Monmouth put single runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth and seventh innings, but the first of those was answered by another Lesser RBI, this one bringing in
Sam Seggerman. In the closing stages of the game, the Fighting Scots left the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth and had the tying run at the plate in the seventh when Feig induced a flyout to Reilly to end the game.
