The No. 12 University of Illinois Springfield softball team fell twice on Friday at the Dome Invitational. The Prairie Stars lost to Findlay in extra innings, before a loss to Purdue Northwest.
 
The Findlay contest was back-and-forth before the Oilers won 6-4 in eight innings. The Prairie Stars got on the board in the first inning when Carolyn Franke hit a double that scored Calla Wickenhauser. Two innings later, Wickenhauser played a part in another run when she hit a sacrifice fly that scored Madi Torry.
 
Payton Long threw a no-hitter for four innings, but Findlay got the bats going in the fifth. The Oilers scored four times, all with two outs, with the biggest hits being back-to-back triples. UIS tied the game in the bottom half of the inning, when Lakyn Wagoner hit a two-run triple.
 
Neither team scored in the sixth and seventh, leading to UIS's first extra inning game of the year. Findlay scored twice in its first two at-bats. The Prairie Stars got runners on second and third with no outs in the bottom half of that inning, but they couldn't push the tying runs across.
 
Natalie Cokel led the team with three hits, and Torry and Wagoner each had two hits. Torry also had two runs and reached base three times.
 
In the second game of the day, UIS ran into a hot pitcher as Purdue Northwest won 3-0. Neither team scored for four innings, but the Pride had back-to-back triples in the fifth that scored two runs. Another triple led to a third run in the final inning.
 
Cokel led the Prairie Stars by going two-for-two with a walk. Wagoner, Franke, and Hunter Niebrugge had the other hits for UIS.
 
UIS falls to 6-4 on the season. The Prairie Stars will continue play at the Dome Invitational on Saturday against Wayne State and Grand Valley State.