WHEELING, Ill. –The Illinois College softball team went into an offensive slump at the wrong time on Friday in the Midwest Conference Tournament. The Lady Blues managed only five hits in two games, falling first to St. Norbert College by a score of 6-0 before being eliminated, 1-0, on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Grinnell College. IC finishes the season at 19-15.
Game One: St. Norbert 6, Illinois College 0
Sydney Hood (10-6) held St. Norbert scoreless until the fourth inning, but the Green Knights took the lead on a solo home run and then broke the game open late. The Lady Blues had a couple early scoring opportunities, but didn't take advantage of seeing Emma Molenhouse (11-8) for the third time this season.
Jackie Reilly led off the bottom of the first inning with a single, but that was the first of just three hits for IC in the game. Reilly ended the first inning stranded at second base, as did
Sam Seggerman in the bottom of the third.
St. Norbert went ahead when Ashley Zimmerman led off the fourth with a solo homer over the wall in right field. An Illinois College error later in the inning allowed another run to score for a 2-0 lead.
IC was on the verge of cutting into the lead in the fifth inning, but
Skylar Dees was left on third. St. Norbert proceeded to score four runs in the top of the sixth to put the game away.
Reilly, Seggerman and
Savanna Brady had the three Illinois College hits. Hood ended the day with six strikeouts.
Game Two: Grinnell 1, Illinois College 0
Facing Grinnell in an elimination game, scoring opportunities were rare for Illinois College but
Jess Feig (8-8) kept the Lady Blues in it by shutting the Pioneers out for six innings. That ultimately wouldn't be enough however, as Grinnell scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh.
Illinois College didn't have a baserunner until the third inning when
Christin Mathias worked a lead-off walk. The Lady Blues then collected their first hit when
Hailey Lesser singled up the middle to start off the fourth inning. The two best scoring opportunities for IC came in the fifth and seventh innings when the lead-off hitters –
Madisyn Webster and Dees – reached base and were moved to second base on sacrifice bunts with one out in each frame. Each time, Elle Adams worked out of trouble and kept the Lady Blues off the board.
In the bottom of the seventh, Grinnell loaded the bases with no outs. After Illinois College got the first out with a force-out at the plate, the second out of the inning was a fly ball to left field.
Jackie Reilly hauled the ball in, but it was deep enough to score Maddie Matsubara from third and give the Pioneers the victory.
