The Illini West softball hosted Cuba/Spoon River Valley on Wednesday, March 27, and won 5-4 to remain undefeated.
After Madilyn Boyer struck out Kayleigh Harr swinging, Cuba/Spoon River Valley’s Olivia Miller hit a fly ball and reached on an error by the left fielder and advanced to second. Kacie White grounded out to second base and advanced Miller to third. Cali Hanson singled to right field, scoring Miller for a 1-0 lead. Boyer struck out Morgan Patterson to end the inning. Illini West went in order in the home first inning.
The Lady Wildcats failed to score in the top of the second inning. Boyer singled to open the home second, but was erased as Rachel James grounded into a double-play. Kennedy Gunning grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
In the top of the third inning, Boyer struck out Harr swinging for the first out. Miller drew a walk. White doubled to center field, scoring Miller for a 2-0 lead. Hanson struck out swinging and Patterson grounded out to Boyer to end the inning. The Chargers’ Olivia Johnson doubled to left to open the home third inning. Raina Flynn came in as a courtesy runner for Johnson. Ella Shutwell singled to right, scoring Flynn to cut the lead to 2-1. Shutwell advanced to second on the throw. Corin Robinson grounded out to third for the first out. Shutwell advanced to third base. Kaelyn Ferrill grounded into a fielder’s choice scoring Shutwell to tie the game at 2-2. Elly Krieg struck out looking and Payton Downs grounded out to second base to end the inning.
The Lady Wildcats’ Emma Probyn hit a fly ball and reached second base on an error by the right fielder. Mollie Cornell came in as a courtesy runner for Probyn. Ella Pigg flew out to center field for the first out. Cornell advanced to third on a wild pitch. Sadie Arnett flew out to left field for the second out and Cornell scored after tagging up to plate their third run and take a 3-2 lead. Sam Thum grounded out to second base to end the inning. The Chargers went one-two-three in the home fourth inning.
The Lady Wildcats failed to plate any runs in the top of the fifth inning. The Chargers also didn’t score in the home fifth inning as the only hit was a Robinson single.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Lady Wildcats again went in order. The Chargers only got a Boyer walk in their half of the inning.
Arnett opened the Lady Wildcats’ seventh inning by hitting a ground ball and reaching second base on an error by the first baseman. Thum grounded out to second, advancing Arnett around to third base. Harr flew out to second base and Arnett crossed the plate after tagging up to increase the lead to 4-2. Miller then doubled to center field and White flew out to center to end the inning. Kennedy Gunning flew out to right field for the first out in the Chargers’ seventh inning. Johnson singled to shortstop. Natalie Wibbell came in as pinch runner for Johnson. AJ Cook pinch-hit for Ella Shutwell and she drew a walk, advancing Wibbell to second. Robinson singled to left field to load the bases. Ava Shutwell came in as a courtesy runner for Robinson. Ferrill committed the second out on an infield fly to shortstop. Krieg tripled to center field, allowing Wibbell, Cook and Shutwell to score and win the softball game, 5-4.
Boyer was the winning pitcher, she gave up five hits and four runs, one of them earned. She had five strikeouts and walked one. Krieg was 1-4 at the plate with three runs batted in. Johnson went 2-3 at the plate. Ella Shutwell was 1-2, had a run batted in and scored a run. Boyer had a hit and a walk in the game. Probyn was the losing pitcher. She gave up seven hits and five earned runs, struck out three and walked two. White was the Lady Wildcats’ top hitter going 2-4 with a run batted in.
