The Illinois Springfield softball team split a pair of games Thursday at Scheels Sports Park, opening the UIS Softball Capital City McDonald's Classic with a 4-2 win over Davenport before falling 10-5 to Ohio Dominican.
Ill.-Springfield (8-4) used a four-run third inning to secure the win in the opener, highlighted by three doubles. The Prairie Stars later rallied for three runs in the fifth inning against Ohio Dominican but could not overcome an early deficit.
GAME ONE | W, 4-2
UIS broke the game open in the third inning after a slow start for both sides.
Rosie Bartletti and
Rebecca Neupauer led off with singles, and
Chloe Scroggins drove them in with a double to right-center field.
Bailey Masching later added an RBI double, and
Sidney Sawyer reached on an error that allowed another run to score, giving the Prairie Stars a 4-0 advantage.
Davenport (0-2) answered with two unearned runs in the fourth inning on a single, sacrifice bunt, error and RBI groundout to cut the deficit to 4-2.
The final three innings were scoreless as UIS relied on strong defense to close out the win.
Calista Stahlhut tossed a complete game, allowing no earned runs over seven innings. She struck out seven, surrendered three hits and walked one to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Bartletti finished 3-for-3 with a double and scored a run. Scroggins doubled and drove in two, while Masching added a double, an RBI and a run scored.
"Calista pitched a great game," said head coach
Shannon Guthrie. "She started us off in the circle on a high note and led us through the entire game. Offensively, our speed set the tone and our big hitters had some clutch hits in key situations. Chloe and Bailey both had great RBI at-bats to help us to a big four-run inning. Calista took care of the rest, and Hailey did a great job working with her behind the plate."
GAME TWO | L, 10-5
Ohio Dominican totaled 16 hits, including three doubles, to earn the win in the day's final game. The Panthers struck first, but UIS responded in the bottom of the first when Bartletti singled, advanced on a sacrifice and scored on
Olivia DeLuca's RBI single to tie the game at 1-1.
Ohio Dominican regained control with three runs in the third inning and extended its lead to 8-1 before the Prairie Stars mounted a rally in the fifth.
Jaden Watts singled and advanced on an error to help load the bases.
Taylor Ford drew a walk to bring in a run, and
Taylor Patterson delivered a two-RBI single to cut the deficit to 8-4.
UIS added another run in the sixth when Bartletti was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, scoring
Jillian Lane and making it 8-5. The Panthers added two insurance runs in the seventh to seal the 10-5 decision.
Alexis Carroll pitched four innings after Bartletti was in the circle for the first three, falling to 5-2 with the loss.
Watts went two-for-two at the plate, while Patterson drove in two off the bench. Ford added an RBI and a walk.
"Ohio Dominican jumped out to a hot start," Guthrie said. "After giving up a run in the first inning, it was great to see Rosie come out and get on base and get that run right back for us. However, we didn't respond well to the next few runs and put ourselves in a hole. I was really proud of the effort from the players who came in and took advantage of opportunities with some clutch hits.
Jaden Watts had an awesome game with two key hits to help us get some runs on the board, and
Jillian Lane also looked great coming in. We need to learn from this and come out ready to get back on track tomorrow."
Up Next
UIS will face Ohio Dominican at noon Saturday before meeting Davenport immediately after to continue the tournament.
