KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Saint Joseph's College (2-2) and Illinois College (2-4) split a doubleheader in THE Spring Games action at the Fortune Athletics Complex on Monday afternoon. The Lady Blues opened the twinbill with a 3-2 win in eight innings and the Monks countered with a 2-1 triumph in the nightcap.
ILLINOIS COLLEGE 3, SAINT JOSEPH'S 2:
The Lady Blues claimed a 1-0 lead in the second inning when junior designated player Calynn Gicante plated senior second baseman Annie Schimpf with a double to left field.
Illinois College junior pitcher Julia Drake held the Monks hitless until senior first baseman Olivia Howe (Arundel, Maine) doubled to deep center with one out in the fourth inning. Howe was lifted in favor of pinch runner Sadie Tirrell (Naples, Maine), who scored from second two batters later when sophomore third baseman Sylvia Foley (Scarborough, Maine) looped a single to right field, tying the score 1-1.
Both teams had several baserunners in the following three innings, but neither pushed a run across until the eighth inning. With the international tiebreaker rule in place and freshman Ahna Dostie (Lewiston, Maine) on second, junior right fielder Taylor Owen (Wakefield, Mass.) posted a bunt single to move her teammate to third and junior center fielder Lydia Goodnough (Kennebunkport, Maine) delivered the go-ahead run with a sac fly to center.
The Lady Blues followed the same blueprint in the bottom of the eighth, when Allison Mortland was put on second, moved to third on a bunt single, and scored the tying run on a base hit off the bat of senior first baseman Mackenzy Payne. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Schimpf worked a walk to load the bases for left fielder Claudia Adam, who grounded out to second for the walk-off win.
IN THE CIRCLE:
SJC senior starter Sydney Hatch (Newburgh, Maine) allowed one run on five hits and pair of walks over seven frames before giving way in the eighth inning to senior Emily Eagleston (Reading, Mass.), who took the loss after yielding two runs (one earned) on two hits and a walk in 0.1 innings.
For Illinois College, Drake went the distance allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits with 11 strikeouts in eight innings.
AT THE BAT:
- Howe was 2-3 with a double and a walk and Owen went 2-3 with a pair of singles
- For the Lady Blues, center fielder Kiya Hagene was 2-4 with a double
SAINT JOSEPH'S 2, ILLINOIS COLLEGE 1:
The Monks kicked off the latter contest by scoring a run on three hits in the bottom of the first frame, when freshman Chantelle Bouchard (Biddeford, Maine) singled and later headed home on a Foley base hit.
St. Joe's doubled the lead in the third on another Foley knock, as first-year second baseman Hannah Gosselin (Biddeford, Maine) singled, stole second, moved to third on a Bouchard single, and jogged across the plate on the sophomore's single to center.
SJC senior starting pitcher Meredith Pence (Remington, Va.) held the Lady Blues without a hit until the top of the fourth when Gicante singled up the middle with one out.
Illinois College made it a 2-1 game in the top of the sixth, when Gicante worked a walk and later scored on a Grace Braun base hit. The Lady Blues had runners on second and third with two out, but Pence squashed the scoring chance by inducing a lazy fly ball to right field.
IN THE CIRCLE:
Pence tossed her second gem in as many days and improved to 2-0 on the young season after giving up a run on five hits with seven K's in seven innings.
IC starter Olivia Shimmin suffered the loss after allowing two runs on six hits with four punchouts in four innings. Terin Teeter tossed two scoreless innings in relief and fanned a pair.
AT THE BAT:
- Foley was 2-3 with a pair of RBI
- Gosselin went 2-3 with a run and a stolen base
- Bouchard added two hits in three at-bats
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the split, Saint Joseph's is now 1-2 all-time versus Illinois College, a team the Monks last played during the 2007 spring trip in a 7-1 setback.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will play a pair of games at Fortune Road Athletic Complex field #3 tomorrow, when the Monks face La Roche at 2:00 PM and Misericordia at 4:30 PM.
