DeKALB, Ill. - Samantha Valentine was 5-for-7 with a home run, a double and two RBIs as Western Illinois split with Northern Illinois in double header action, Wednesday.
"Today was a good day," Western Illinois head coach
Holly Van Vlymen said. "Sam had a great night at the plate and her home run (in game two) really set us in the right direction."
The Huskies (6-19) scored the first runs of the day in the second inning. Michelle Nendza doubled to right field to start the inning and advanced to third on the sac. An RBI fielder's choice made the score, 1-0 and Northern scored one more run in the inning off a pair of stolen bases and an error.
The Westerwinds (4-21) answered back in the top of the third with two outs. Valentine singled to right field,
Nikki Marinec walked and as
Racheal Heagney reached on an error, Valentine went home. With the tying run on second, Northern Illinois had a pitching change that resulted in a strike out, getting out of the inning on top, 2-1.
An RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning added a final run for the Huskies, who defeated the Westerwinds, 3-1.
Kate Greenough recorded the win for Northern in 4.1 innings of work. Greenough (4-10) struck out four, walked two and allowed two hits.
Lori Pankratz suffered the loss for the Westerwinds. Pankratz (0-6) struck out four batters and allowed six hits in six innings.
"After the first game I told the team that we really needed to pull the trigger," Van Vlymen said. "We had runners in scoring position and we couldn't get that hit to get them in. So we talked about how we were going to change that and we did to bring home the win in the second game."
In the nightcap, with the tying run on deck, Pankratz came in for the final out and recorded the save, as Western Illinois defeated Northern, 9-6.
With two outs in the first inning, Valentine hit a home run to center field to start the game with a Western Illinois 1-0 lead.
Doubles by
Colleen Biebel, Valentine and
Rachel Sinks in the fourth inning scored three runs, just before
Julie DePolo hit a two-run home run for a six-run Western Illinois inning.
The Westerwinds added another run in the top of the sixth inning when
Michelle Prieto singled up the middle to score Furgala. In the bottom half of the inning, a pair of Northern Illinois singles with a stolen base in between brought the score to 8-1.
Heagney hit a double to left center to score Valentine, who walked earlier in the seventh inning. With Western Illinois leading Northern Illinois, 9-1, in the final inning, the Huskies had six hits to score five runs, but it wasn't enough as they still fell short, 9-6.
Courtney Jacobson recorded the win, while Taryn Hagemann suffered the loss. Jacobson (2-4) struck out seven batters and allowed 10 hits in 6.2 innings, while Hagemann (0-5) struck out one batter and allowed six hits in six innings of work.
"Lori and Court both pitched good games today," Van Vlymen said. "We had some clutch hits and the right timing to score the runs. Everybody stepped up for a great team win."
The Western Illinois softball team will host conference-rival South Dakota State in a three-game series, April 11-12, at Mary Ellen McKee Stadium.
