Softball Drops Pair at IC on Wednesday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTh, Ill. (04/18/2024) — The Monmouth College softball team played their first MWC road games of the season, falling 6-2 and 15-7 at Illinois College on Wednesday.

Karliegh Ashby (Monmouth, Illinois) led off game one with a triple and she scored on a wild pitch with one out. The Lady Blues took a 2-1 lead against Alyssa Hefflefinger (Olin, Iowa) in the bottom of the first. The Scots loaded the bases in the second on walks by Jordan Lantz (Alexis, Illinois) and Alexis Hardy (Rushville, Illinois) on either side of a Lillian Hucke (Aledo, Illinois) single. However, a strikeout ended the inning.

Grace Goodrich (Lake Villa, Illinois) singled with two outs in the third but the Scots couldn't get her home. The hosts added two runs in the bottom of the inning on a single, walk and double. Kayliegh Cobb (Pawnee, Illinois) took over in the circle and IC scored on an error to lead 5-1

Down 6-1, the Scots rallied in the seventh. Ashby walked and stole second with one out. She scored on an error before Grace Wyman (Pekin, Illinois) singled. Goodrich singled for the second time in the game and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Savannah Powers (Volo, Illinois) walked to bring the tying run to the plate but a strikeout ended the game.

Hefflefinger took the loss as she allowed four earned runs over 2 innings with a strikeout. Cobb allowed one run over 3 innings in relief.

GAME TWO

Game two was a back-and-forth affair until the sixth inning. Ashby led off with a single and Lewis walked before two fielders' choices. Wyman eventually came around to score on a wild pitch for a 1-0 Monmouth lead.

Illinois College scored off McKealey Klokkenga (Delavan, Illinois) in the second to tie the game Wyman led off the third with a single and Goodrich singled before an IC pitching change. An error scored Wyman and Lantz doubled for a 4-1 Monmouth lead. Marie Vega (Chicago, Illinois) singled and stole second before Lantz scored on a groundout by Hucke.

With the lead down to 5-3, Hefflefinger took over in the circle in the fourth inning before giving way to Addison Steward (Danvers, Illinois). The Lady Blues plated four more to lead 7-5. Hucke singled for the Scots in the fifth inning and Hardy drew a walk to put two on base with one out. Lewis singled to bring home both runs and tie the game but the Scots left two runners on base.

IC regained the lead 9-7 in the fifth and added six more in the sixth for the win. They finished the game with a bases loaded single off Cobb.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Ashby, Wyman, Goodrich and Hucke had hits in both games Goodrich had two hits in game one Ashby scored twice in the first game and Wyman scored twice in game two Wyman had three hits in the second game while Ashby had twoPowers had two steals in game two Lewis leads the Scots with 19 RBI and Wyman has scored 19 runs Ashby stole her team-leading 10th base of the season in game one The Scots are 55-39-1 against IC but are 1-11-1 in the last 13 The last win in Jacksonville was in 2014 Monmouth continues MWC action with a doubleheader at Lake Forest on Saturday The next home game is a DH against Grinnell on Monday, April 22 at 3 p.m.