CLERMONT, Fla. – The Illinois College softball team was on the verge of a victory in the opening game of the day on Wednesday before a comeback from Neumann University gifted the Knights a 5-3 victory. The Lady Blues then had no answer for Hannah Tomasko as the Aurora University hurler allowed only a single hit in a 4-0 win for the Spartans.
Action in Florida continues tomorrow for IC with games against the University of Northwestern (MN) at 2:30 p.m. (EST) and York College (PA) at 4:45 p.m. (EST).
Neumann 5, Illinois College 3
Illinois College and Neumann were locked in a low-scoring battle through three innings with only one unearned run for the Knights separating the two teams. The game sparked to life in the bottom of the fourth when
Grace Frost delivered a two-RBI single that scored
Maddy Morgan and
Skylar Dees to give the Lady Blues a 2-1 edge.
One inning later,
Sam Seggerman connected on Illinois College's first home run of the season to extend the IC lead to 3-1.
Sydney Hood (0-3) sat Neumann down in order in the sixth. In the top of the seventh, an infield single for the Knights was followed by consecutive strikeouts, putting Illinois College one out away from victory. Neumann suddenly rallied, working consecutive walks to load the bases before Kierstin Fallers drove in two with a game-tying single. The next Knight batter, Morgan Fitzpatrick, doubled to left to make the score 5-3.
Madisyn Webster and Seggerman led off the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back base hits, but Neumann starter Jen Sieminski retired the next three batters in a row to end it.
Aurora 4, Illinois College 0
The story of the day's second game was Hannah Tomasko. The Aurora pitcher flirted with a no-hitter and allowed only two Illinois College baserunners the whole game to earn the shutout.
Olivia Shimmin (1-3) got the start for IC, but Aurora put up three runs on three hits and two walks in the bottom of the first. That was all Tomasko was going to need. Outside of a lead-off walk to Dees in the second inning, the Lady Blues didn't have a baserunner until the seventh. In the middle innings, Tomasko struck out nine straight IC hitters and the Lady Blues didn't have a hit until an infield single for
Mariana Babic in the seventh.
Alissa Hodge came on in relief of Shimmin and threw well, scattering five hits across 5.0 innings and giving up a single run.
