MACOMB, Ill. - Julie DePolo led the Western Illinois softball team to 26 total hits as she went 5-for-6 in Sunday's conference double header against South Dakota State.

The Westerwinds (6-22, 4-4 The Summit League) swept the Jackrabbits (14-22, 7-5 The Summit League) with a 6-1 game-one victory and a 16-9 nightcap defeat.

"Today was huge for us," Western Illinois head coach Holly Van Vlymen said. "After yesterday's loss we sat down and talked about our goals. We knew if we want to go to the tournament then we need to start playing to win. So it was huge for us to come back and win today."

The Jackrabbits made some noise in the first inning after scoring a run off a pair of hits, but were silenced for the remainder of the game.

In the fifth inning, DePolo bunted with two outs to get on. Michelle Prieto singled up the middle and advanced on the throw to score DePolo and tie the game at 1-1. Colleen Biebel and Samantha Valentine each singled to load the bases. Racheal Heagney hit a grand slam to lift the Westerwinds over South Dakota State, 6-1.

Lori Pankratz captured her first win on the season allowing 10 hits and striking out four. Jenna Marston suffered the loss in six innings of work with one strikeout and nine hits given up.

"When you see the same pitcher three games you do get used to her tendencies," Van Vlymen said. "She (Marston) still did a nice job of mixing up her speeds, but it did help us."

In the nightcap, the Westerwinds defeated the Jackrabbits with scoring in five straight innings. Down 1-0 in the second inning, Prieto scored on a Nikki Marinec bunt single. Heagney hit an RBI single to right center and Furgala tripled to right field to score two more runs. Furgala scored on an error and DePolo drove in a final run with a single to left field, for a Western Illinois 5-1 lead.

South Dakota State's Greta Stroh hit a two-run double in the second inning to close the gap to two runs. Marinec hit her second home run on the season to continue the Western Illinois scoring in the bottom half of the inning.

Down 6-3, the Jackrabbits scored four runs in the third inning off a double, a single and a sac fly. The Westerwinds took the lead back, 10-7, with a pair of doubles and a pair of singles.

A South Dakota State RBI double and an RBI single in the top of the fourth inning brought the Jackrabbits to within one run, with the score at 10-9.

Furgala extended the lead to 11-9 when she hit a home run in the fourth inning. Western Illinois added five more runs in the fifth inning, on three hits and an error, to sweep the conference series with South Dakota State.

Courtney Jacobson pitched the first 2.1 innings, allowing six hits, seven runs and striking out two. Biebel pitched 1.1 innings, allowing four hits and two runs, while Pankratz wrapped up the final 3.1 innings, earning the win with one strikeout and three hits allowed. The Jackrabbits' Marston suffered the loss, allowing 11 hits and walking five in five innings.

"I was very proud of Lori today," Van Vlymen said. "She pitched a great first game and came in and had great relief the second game. Courtney was better and we're going to work on a couple of things tomorrow to get her all fixed. Colleen came in and did exactly what I needed her to do. They're a good hitting team."

On the day, Valentine was 4-for-7 with four RBIs, Furgala was 4-for-8 with a double, a triple, a home run and four RBIs and Heagney was 3-for-7 with a double, a home run and five RBIs.