Monmouth College

Softball Drops Pair at Webster on Sunday

Waymire homers, Powers adds three RBI

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (03/02/2026) — The Monmouth College softball team dropped a pair of games on Sunday at Webster, 9-5 and 3-1. The Fighting Scots (1-3) led both games early and will now prepare for the spring break trip to Florida.

The Scots got the offense going in the top of the first. Karliegh Ashby (Monmouth, Illinois) reached on an error and Ella Cunningham (Dunlap, Illinois) singled to center. Graci Guenther (Pekin, Illinois) reached on a fielders' choice to load the bases and Savannah Powers (Volo, Illinois) made it 2-0 with a double to left. With one out, Brooklyn Millhollin (Peoria, Illinois) made it 3-0 with a RBI groundout.

The Garlocks put two on the board in the bottom of the inning against Lydia Overcash (Farmington, Illinois) with two singles and a double. They took a 6-3 lead in the third inning with a single, two doubles and two more singles.

Webster added on in the fourth with two singles and a triple. Alyssa Hefflefinger (Olin, Iowa) entered the game in relief and a double made it 9-3 before the Scots got out of the inning with a strike out.

After two hitless innings, Elizabeth Waymire (Havana, Illinois) homered with two outs in the sixth to cut the Webster lead to 9-4. Ashby led off the seventh with a double and moved to third on a single by Cunningham. After a caught stealing, Meaghan Carpenter (Hanna City, Illinois) walked and stole second. Powers grounded out as Ashby scored for a 9-5 game but another grounded out ended the contest.

Overcash (0-1) took the loss allowing nine runs on 11 hits over 3 2/3 innings with two strikeouts. Hefflefinger allowed just one hit over 2 1/3 shutout innings and she struck out one.

GAME TWO

The Scots threatened early in game two but came up empty. Ashby reached on an error and was caught stealing. Cunningham and Powers both singled and moved up on a wild pitch. However, two straight strikeouts ended the inning.

Monmouth starter Elizabeth Durfee (Arlington, Washington) struck out three in the first, all with a runner on second. She struck out two more in the second to strand a runner on third and added another strikeout in the third.

The game was scoreless into the fifth when Alexis Hardy (Rushville, Illinois) led off with a walk. Powers reached on a fielders' choice and Maddie Hepner (Alexis, Illinois) walked to load the bases. Mackenzie Gerard (Jacksonville, Illinois) singled to left for a 1-0 lead before a groundout ended the inning.

Webster broke through in the sixth inning. Two straight singles and a stolen base put two in scoring position with one out. Another single put the Gorlocks on top 2-1 and a bases loaded walk added a third run. Addie Greene (Rushville, Illinois) took over for Durfee and two straight outs ended the inning.

A two-out single by Gerard in the seventh brought the tying run to the plate for the Scots. However, a strikeout ended the game.

Durfee (0-1) took the loss, allowing three runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts. Greene retired both batters she faced.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Powers had at least two RBI in her first three games of the season and has hit safely in all four ... Ashby, Cunningham, Waymire and Millhollin have also each hit safely in all four games ... Waymire homered last year against Eureka ... Durfee has 100 career strikeouts and surpassed the 100 inning mark for her career ... She now ranks 10th in Monmouth history with 41 games started as a pitcher ... Cunningham had two hits in game one while Ashby and Gerard had two hits in game two ... Ashby scored twice in game one, her third straight multi-run game of the weekend ... Carpenter made her college debut in the opener and her first start in game two ... Webster leads the all-time series 8-1 with six straight wins ... The Scots head to Florida where they will play eight games between March 8-12 ... They will face Marietta and Nebraska Wesleyan on Sunday at the USSSA Space Coast Facility ... The home opener is a DH against Loras at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 21.