PEORIA, Ill. – Facing what is likely to be the best pitching they'll see all season, the Illinois College softball team couldn't keep up with Illinois Wesleyan University's excellent 1-2 duo of Ally Wiegand and Brea Walker. The Titans opened up the 2020 season with a 4-0 shutout in the first game of the day and an 11-2 win in five innings in game two.
Illinois College will next be in action down in Florida, starting their Spring Break trip off on March 1 with games against Lebanon Valley College (2:45 p.m. (EST)) and Moravian College (5 p.m. (EST)).
Game One: Illinois Wesleyan 4, Illinois College 0
After being named a NFCA First Team All-American last season as a junior, Wiegand staked an early claim as the best pitcher in all of NCAA Division III softball this season with a perfect game in the first game of the year. Though the Titans committed an error on a dropped foul ball, no base runner for Illinois College reached the entire game as Wiegand faced the minimum of 21 hitters.
Wiegand's performance was so dominating that the biggest highlights for the IC offense in the first game of the doubleheader came when someone put the ball in play. Of the 21 outs that Wiegand registered, 19 came via strikeout. Only
Abigail Tepen (lineout to shortstop in the third inning) and
Madisyn Webster (popout on bunt attempt in the seventh inning) gave the IWU defense anything to do.
Squaring off with Wiegand on the afternoon was
Sydney Hood. The sophomore pitcher for the Lady Blues was solid and allowed only five hits. The score was still 0-0 heading to the fourth inning but a solo shot from Colleen Palczynski put Illinois Wesleyan ahead for good. Later in the fourth, Hayley Earl cleared the bases with a double into left field to make it 4-0.
Hood (0-1) went the distance for Illinois College and struck out three Titan hitters.
Game Two: Illinois Wesleyan 11, Illinois College 2 (5 innings)
Things immediately got off to a better start in the second game of the day for Illinois College, but a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning wouldn't hold up as Illinois Wesleyan's offense got rolling.
Facing Walker instead of Wiegand, the Lady Blues had better luck right from the start.
Sam Seggerman drew an opening walk and she went to third on an infield single from
Madisyn Webster.
Skylar Dees bunted Seggerman home from there for a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning,
Irie Dulin hit a sacrifice fly that scored Dees.
The score was tied by the end of the first inning as Illinois Wesleyan scored on a solo home run from Sam Berghoff and a two-out error. Hannah Heraty put IWU on top with a RBI single in the bottom of the second inning and Berghoff capped a run of three straight RBI hits from the Titans with her second home run of the game to make it 5-2. Earl added two more for IWU in the third inning with a home run and then four more runs in the bottom of the fourth created an 11-2 separation between the teams.
A 1-2-3 fifth for Illinois College brought the game to an end.
Olivia Shimmin (0-1) lost her debut for the Lady Blues, allowing seven runs (four earned) in three innings while striking out two.
Alissa Hodge worked the fourth inning and gave up four runs while striking out one.
