Softball Drops Pair at Ripon on Saturday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill (04/12/2025) — The Monmouth College softball team dropped a pair of Midwest Conference games 5-4 and 10-2 at Ripon on Saturday. The Fighting Scots (4-22, 0-4) led game 1 4-3 going into the bottom of the seventh before getting walked off and the Red Hawks won game two on the run rule.

Neither team scored in game one until the hosts got on the board against Monmouth starter Lizzie Durfee (Arlington, Washington) in the bottom of the fourth. Two hits and a walk loaded the bases and another walk brought home the first run of the game. Kayleigh Cobb (Pawnee, Illinois) came out of the bullpen for a strikeout to end the inning.

Ripon pushed the lead to 3-0 in the fifth with a single, double, error and a squeeze bunt, Savannah Powers (Volo, Illinois) led off the sixth with a single and Shelby Covey (Peoria, Illinois) was hit by a pitch. Grace Wyman (Pekin, Illinois) singled to load the bases and Kendall Lewis (Cambridge, Illinois) singled home a pair. Mackenzie Gerard (Jacksonville, Illinois) singled to drive home Wyman and with one out, Alexis Hardy (Rushville, Illinois) walked. Karliegh Ashby (Monmouth, Illinois) put the Scots on top 4-3 with a fielders' choice RBI before the hosts got out of the inning.

Monmouth left two insurance runs on base in the seventh and Ripon took advantage. They started the bottom of the seventh by putting two on via errors and a bunt resulted in no outs and the bases loaded. A double to left scored two and walked off the game for Ripon

Cobb (1-5) took the loss in relief despite allowing just one earned run. She struck out two in 2 innings while Durfee struck out five and walked two in 3 innings of work.

GAME TWO

Neither team scored in the first but Ripon grabbed the lead againsts Addie Greene (Rushville, Illinois) in the second inning. Two straight singles, a wild pitch and a walk loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly made it 1-0 and a 3-run homer put the Red Hawks on top 4-0.

Down 5-0, Monmouth got on the board in the fifth. Lewis led off with a single and Hardy singled with one out. Ashby walked and Lewis scored when Brooklyn Manners (Burleson, Texas) was hit by a pitch. A sacrifice fly by Powers plated Hardy to cut the Ripon lead to 5-2.

The game ended with a 5-run sixth by Ripon against Alyssa Hefflefinger (Olin, Iowa). The Red Hawks used three singles, a double and a hit batter to take a 9-2 lead and put two on base. A 2-out single to center ended the game at 10-2.

Greene (1-4) took the loss allowing five runs, four earned, over four innings. She walked five and struck out two while Hefflefinger struck out one.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Hefflefinger and Wyman returned from injuries after missing the last two weeks ... Powers had two hits in game one ... Wyman had a hit in both games while Lewis had two hits in both games ... With two RBI on Saturday, Lewis has 53 in her career, tied for 14th on the career list ... Ashby stole a bse in game two and now has 19 career steals, tied for 10th in Monmouth historyAll 13 of Monmouth's hits on Saturday were singles ... The Scots lead the all-time series 36-30 and had been 7-1 since Ripon last swept a DH in 2018 ... The Scots play a DH at Lawrence at 1 p.m. on Sunday ... The next home game is a 1 p.m. DH against Illinois College on Friday, April 18.