CLERMONT, Fla. – The Illinois College softball team took one out of two games on its final day in Florida for Spring Break, defeating Berea College, 3-0, in the day's opener before suffering a 4-2 loss to Bridgewater College. The Lady Blues head back to the Midwest with a 3-9 record.
Illinois College comes home to Jacksonville and will host six straight games starting on March 14 with a doubleheader against Simpson College starting at 12 p.m.
Illinois College 3, Berea 0
The game between Illinois College and Berea was a battle of goose eggs the whole way, with the exception of a three-run inning in the sixth for the Lady Blues to get their third win of the season.
Sydney Hood (2-3) went the whole way and earned her first shutout of the season, allowing five hits while striking out four.
The Lady Blues had just three hits in the first five innings before getting things rolling in the sixth.
Mariana Babic and
Grace Frost led off the inning with consecutive singles, setting up
Jenna Wright for a sacrifice that moved both runners into scoring position with one down.
Abigail Tepen drove in pinch-runner
Jessica Belzer for the first run of the game and
Mackenzy Payne and
Olivia Jordan each drove in runs shortly after that.
That three-run lead was more than enough for Hood. The sophomore stranded one Berea runner in the bottom of the sixth and then worked out of a jam in the seventh when the Mountaineers put their first two runners aboard.
Babic, Tepen and
Madisyn Webster each had two hits in the game for the Lady Blues.
Bridgewater 4, Illinois College 2
A quick start to the game for Bridgewater proved too much for Illinois College to overcome in the final contest of the trip.
Alissa Hodge (0-3) pitched the first three innings before making way for Hood, who threw four scoreless innings starting in the fourth.
After a lead-off triple by Bridgewater and a bunt single, the Eagles put two runs on the board in the top of the first on a pair of RBI groundouts. Illinois College couldn't answer back, leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the first.
Bridgewater began the top of the third with consecutive walks and turned those into two more runs, scoring on a single and yet another groundout. Illinois College answered back with a run in the bottom of the third on an RBI from Tepen, leaving the score 4-1.
The score remained there until the bottom of the seventh. In the team's final turn at the plate, the Lady Blues started off with a walk to
Sam Seggerman, followed by a single from Webster. An error from Bridgewater kept the game alive with two outs and brought Seggerman home to make it 4-2, but the Eagles were able to retire the side with the winning run at the plate.
Webster led the IC offense in the game, going 2-for-3 with a walk.
