Scots Softball Wins Longest Game in School History, at Knox

Leber sets school record with 16 strikeouts

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (04/30/2022) — In the longest game in school history, the Monmouth College softball team outlasted Knox College 5-4 in 18 innings on Friday. Game two of the doubleheader in Galesburg was pushed back to Monday due to darkness. Scots starting pitcher Abby Leber (Tremont, Illinois) set a school record with 16 strikeouts while pitching 11 innings in the win.

The game started at 3:30 p.m. and the Scots started the game with two runs in the top of the second. A double steal scored MyKenzie Kloess (Dupo, Illinois) from third and an error plated Addison Riley (Illinois City, Illinois) for a 2-0 Monmouth lead.

Knox tied the game in the third and neither team scored again until the game went into extra innings. Madelyn Belville (Rushville, Illinois) led off the eighth inning with a triple and scored on a single by Calista Warmowski (Spring Grove, Illinois). Knox tied the game in the bottom of the eighth but lost two runners on the base paths to end the inning.

Leber got her 15th strikeout to set a new school record in the bottom of the 10th. She added another strikeout in the 11th but neither team was able to score. Becca Merletti (Kenosha, Wisconsin) took over in the circle in the 12th and the game was still 3-3 after 15 innings.

The first pitch of the 16th inning set a Monmouth record for longest game. Kloess tripled with one out in the 16th and Riley put the Scots up 4-3 with a sacrifice fly. Knox got two singles in the bottom of the inning and tied the game with a fielder's choice before making the final out between third and home.

Neither team scored in the 17th, leaving runners on base. Allie Ramlo (Tremont, Illinois) led off the 18th with a single, Kloess singled and stole second. RIley's second sacrifice fly of the game scored Ramlo for a 5-4 Monmouth lead. Anna McCarty (Buffalo, Illinois) took over on the mound in the 18th and retired Knox 1-2-3 for the save.

The contest ended just after 7:20, preventing game two from starting. Game two of the DH will be played Monday at 4:30 p.m. in Galesburg.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The 16 strikeouts sets a new record for Leber, surpassing the record of 14, accomplished twice by Liz Hippen.Leber's previous high was 11She has 109 strikeouts this season, fourth on the Scots list with Hippen in each of the top three spotsShe has 170 career strikeouts, eighth on the Monmouth listWith 18 team strikeouts the Scots have 153 on the season, seventh most in team historyThe Scots had three doubles in the game and now have 47 on the season, eighth most in school historyJessica Pauley (Moline, Illinois) returned to action for the first time since a plate collision against Grinnell on April 2She collected her 96th career hit:The previous longest game was 15 innings which happened twice, March 20, 1997 against Augustana and May 4, 1996 against CoeThe Scots are 3-0 all-time in games that go at least 15 inningsPauley, Ramlo and Kendall Lewis (Cambridge, Illinois) tied the school record with eight at-batsThe Scots are 78-26 all-time against Knox, 26-3 since the start of the 2008 season..The Scots host Cornell Sunday at 1 p.m. for Senior Day.